


Missed SwanQueen Moments Season 5

by SwanQueenUK



Series: Missed SwanQueen Moments [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Anal Play, Angst, Control, Cunnilingus, Cute, Dom-sub, F/F, Fingering, Fisting, Friendship, Lesbian, Lesbian Sex, NSFW, Oral Sex, Sex, Shameless Smut, Smut, magic sex, non-canon, one shots, swanqueen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-07-28 15:39:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 30,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7646926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwanQueenUK/pseuds/SwanQueenUK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of sexy SwanQueen one shots all starting with a single line of dialogue from OUAT. This fic will contain one chapter for every episode of Season 5, attempting to show how many opportunities were missed on the show to make SwanQueen canon. Rated M for a reason folks! Updated regularly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 5.01 - The Dark Swan

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I’m back! And semi-unemployed so I have loads of time to write. This new fic should be updated daily therefore so keep an eye out/follow for regular chapters of our favourite ladies. As always these are standalone inserts using a real line of dialogue from the show to prove how plausible SwanQueen is! Most of them will include sexy times although I didn’t quite manage to get it into this chapter, sorry! Let’s start with one of the best things Emma ever said, eh!

“I saved you. Now save me. And if you can’t save me, do what no one else will willingly do. You’re the only one who will get past their feelings and do what is necessary. Destroy me.”

Her heart hammered in her mouth, her palms slick with sweat. Brown eyes were wide and pleading. Emma couldn’t possibly mean it, could she? There was no way Regina was strong enough to do what Emma wanted from her. Not that it would come to that, she was sure, but even so. No, she couldn’t do it. And surely the blonde knew that.

“Emma, please,” she said, her voice trembling. “Please don’t ask me to do that.”

The blonde stepped forward and pressed the handle of the dagger into Regina’s hand. Her fingers didn’t clasp it however and it fell to the ground, bouncing slightly on the forest floor. Emma ignored the silver blade which held her name, looking instead into the deep brown eyes before her.

“Regina, you have to,” she said quietly. “You’re the only person I trust to do this.”

Regina glanced around at Prince Charming, Snow, Henry, and Hook, all of whom were standing around the two women. Hook was glowering at her but the others looked completely unsurprised at what Emma had said.

“Not here,” she muttered, waving her hand and enveloping the two of them in a pale purple smoke.

Once it had cleared, Emma looked around at the area Regina had magicked them to. They were in another clearing, the tall trees stretching high above them, towards the sunlight which fell in shafts through their leaves. Regina walked over to a tree stump and sat down, head in her hands. Emma bent down to pick up the dagger which had been transported with them before she too sat down on a log.

“Emma, I’m not as strong as you think I am,” Regina said. “I won’t be able to do it. Not that it will ever come to that, I’m sure, because we’re going to get the darkness out of you. But … but if we can’t, I don’t think I’ll have the strength to ….”

She trailed off, looking directly into Emma’s green eyes. She could see the blonde understood, that the blonde knew exactly what Regina was thinking. But she also looked stubborn, determined to follow through with her plan.

“I’m not saying it will be easy,” Emma began.

“Easy?” Regina scoffed. “Emma, you’re asking me to … well, to kill you. You’re asking me to stab my best friend and -,”

She stopped abruptly, her cheeks red-hot. She couldn’t say it. This wasn’t the time nor the place to have that conversation. Not again. They had promised never speak of it after the last time. It was for the best not to keep raking over what Emma claimed could never happen.

“I know,” Emma said, reaching out for Regina’s hands. “It’s ok. I know.”

Regina dropped her gaze to the pale fingers interlaced with her own. Her skin tingled where Emma was touching her and she didn’t dare look up, unsure what would happen if she did. She both hated and loved the way her body reacted to the blonde’s touch. As Emma’s thumb brushed over the back of her hand, she realised just how much she had missed it. Since that conversation, both women avoided even friendly physical gestures.

“No, Emma. Stop,” Regina said, pulling her hands free, standing abruptly and walking to the far side of the clearing. She stopped just before she reached the darkness of the dense forest, knowing she couldn’t leave before everything had been said. She heard Emma approach behind her after a minute or so but didn’t turn around. She couldn’t look into those green eyes, not now.

“I wish things could be different,” Emma whispered, her breath hitting Regina’s neck and the brunette jumped when she realised how close the younger woman was. “I’m so sorry, Regina. I never wanted to put you in this position but I can’t trust anyone else.”

“Then why did you pick him?” Regina exploded, spinning around and glaring at the startled blonde. “Why, Emma? If you don’t trust Hook then why are you with him? You … we … it could have worked, you know? We could have been happy together.”

Emma bit her lip, hating the pain she saw in Regina’s face and wishing she could take it all away. But she knew she would never be able to reverse the damage she had done to her friend’s heart when she chose Hook over her. Regina’s expression was a mixture of anger and heartbreak, both emotions caused by Emma and neither she could soothe away.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said for what felt like the hundredth time since they had spoken almost a year before. “I’m so sorry, Regina. But I have to stay with Hook.”

“Whatever,” Regina said, pushing past Emma and walking away.

Emma glowered after her. Why did the brunette never listen to her? Almost without conscious thought, she felt the magic rise inside her. Regina let out a little squeak when her feet suddenly fused to the mossy floor. Ignoring the rush of warmth the action had caused inside her, Emma stalked towards Regina until she stood in front of her once more.

“I need you to take my dagger,” she said, low and dangerous. Regina’s eyes widened in fear. She had never heard Emma speak to her in that tone before. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as Emma continued. “I need to know that you have the ability to destroy me if things don’t go to plan. You need to keep Henry and my family safe.”

Regina swallowed at the mention of their son. She closed her eyes and a single tear slid from beneath her lid. Henry’s crooked smile appeared in her vision but he faded at once when a cool finger touched her cheek and wiped away her sadness. She snapped her eyes open and looked into the familiar, sympathetic face before her.

“What if I can’t?” Regina asked, her voice hoarse. “What if I can’t separate my feelings, Emma? I don’t know if I’m strong enough to destroy the woman I love just like you’re not strong enough to leave Hook.”

Emma bristled slightly at the veiled jibe but stepped closer, her hand sliding around to cup Regina’s jaw. It was Regina’s turn to shiver as she found Emma’s face inches from her own, a smooth palm against her face.

“You are strong enough,” Emma said firmly. “You’re the strongest person I know, Regina, and you’re the best mother I could ever have hoped for my son to find. If it comes down to it, I know you’ll do what is necessary to protect Henry. I know it.”

“But I don’t,” Regina said. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough to lose love again.”

Emma’s eyes crinkled with sadness at the look on the older woman’s face but she knew what she needed to do.

“But you don’t have me now.”

Regina let out a sob and her knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees as the tears flowed from her eyes. Emma’s heart constricted as she saw what her words, what her lie, had done to her friend. But she needed Regina to do this for her. And if the only way to make the brunette believe there was no chance for the two of them was to break her heart, again, then she knew she needed to do it. She glanced up and saw Rumplestiltskin peering out from behind a tree, rubbing his hands together with mirth. She narrowed her eyes at him before dropping down beside Regina.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Regina, I’m so sorry. But I need you to take this dagger and I need you to promise me you’ll destroy me if the darkness takes hold.”

Regina shook her head, her body wracked with sobs. Emma sighed and stood up, waving her hand. Regina shrieked as she found herself suddenly flying through the air and her back colliding heavily with a tree. She struggled against the invisible ropes binding her there as Emma stalked towards her, eyes darker than Regina had ever seen.

“Regina,” she said when she reached her. “I need you to take that dagger, and I need you to promise to do whatever it takes to protect our son. I don’t know how much longer I can control myself and you refusing to listen is forcing me to use dark magic. We both saw what I almost did to Merida a few minutes ago. So, I’m going to tell you one more time; if you fail to remove the darkness from me, destroy me. Take Henry back to Storybrooke and move on with your life. Save yourself. Ok?”

Regina’s red-rimmed eyes were wide and pleading but she knew she had no choice. Taking a shuddering breath, she nodded once.

Pale lips pressed hotly against her own, the salty tears spilling into her mouth as Emma’s tongue begged for entrance. Hands grasped her hips, pulling their bodies tight together as teeth nibbled on tender flesh. Emma explored Regina’s mouth for the first time, a breathy moan escaping as she tasted the older woman on her tongue. Just as Regina was about to respond to the sudden, impassioned embrace, Emma vanished in a cloud of dark grey smoke.

Flushed and panting, Regina fell forwards from the tree and landed heavily on the ground. She got to her feet quickly and looked around. The clearing was deserted. On the log where Emma had first sat, however, a silver dagger was glinting in the afternoon sunlight.


	2. 5.02 - The Price

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: omg this would have been fucking awesome! Established SwanQueen (in my head and sadly not canon … yet). And also this chapter is very, very Not Suitable For Work (NSFW) and contains consensual sexual control and light anal play.

“Oh shut up and listen,” Regina snapped. Emma opened her mouth to reply but suddenly the words died in her throat. Wide-eyed, she stared at the brunette. “Oh, I could get used to this,” Regina said with glint in her eye.

Emma’s heart beat faster. She knew that look. She liked that look. Still unable to speak, she pointed to the far side of the room and mimed locking the door. Regina waved her hand absentmindedly in the air and the bolts flew across the heavy wood. Emma smiled.

“Are you sure?” Regina asked, wanting to confirm the blonde knew what they were getting into before anything else happened.

Emma nodded furiously and her eyes widened in delight as Regina stepped towards her.

“You’re to tell me,” Regina said as she laid the dagger down on the table beside the blonde and began unfastening Emma’s cloak, “if you’re uncomfortable at any point, ok? That’s an order, don’t forget.”

Emma nodded furiously as the cloak dropped from her shoulders and Regina began to remove her dress too. As soon as the dark green fabric had been discarded, Regina’s mouth was on hers. Emma moaned into the kiss, her arms encircling her girlfriend for the first time since they had arrived in Camelot. With everything that had been going on they hadn’t managed to find any time to be alone. She hadn’t realised how much she had missed the brunette’s touch until that moment. Regina’s tongue pushed its way into Emma’s mouth and began twirling itself around her own. Emma whimpered and pulled Regina even closer but before she could begin to dominate the kiss herself, she felt her body freeze. 

Regina stepped calmly away from the immobile blonde and smirked slightly. Slowly, she began to remove her own clothes. The jacket was shrugged off quickly, the buttons on her silk blouse deftly undone, her pants unclasped and wriggled down her legs. She kicked them, along with her boots, away so she was just stood in her underwear. She could hear Emma breathing heavily, the wanton look in her green eyes telling Regina it was torture for the blonde not to be able to touch her exposed flesh.

“Finish the job,” she said.

Emma moved at once towards her, fingers reaching around and easily releasing her bra. Thumbs hooked into the lacy edge of her underwear and they too were tugged down her legs. Just as Emma was about to stand, the blonde felt a magical pressure on her back.

“Kneel.”

Emma did so. And yes, she had to, because Regina had the dagger but she was unashamed to admit that one of her favourite places in the world was kneeling before her girlfriend. She looked up at the brunette and gave a small smile to let Regina know she was alright. A soft hand cupped her cheek before fingers threaded through her hair, tugging her closer to the apex of Regina’s thigh.

“Make me come.”

Emma licked her lips as she leaned forward. Her hands grasped Regina’s ass, kneading the soft flesh as her mouth and nose were buried against Regina’s sex. She moaned as soon as her tongue flickered through the already wet folds, the familiar taste of her girlfriend exploding on her tongue. Fingers gripped her scalp, pulling her closer. She obliged at once, lapping steadily from Regina’s entrance up to her tight little clit, drawing circles over the sensitive nerves in a random pattern, the unpredictability of which she knew drove Regina mad.

Emma let out a keening sigh as she felt one of her hands being magically moved to Regina’s pulsing hole. Controlled by Regina she entered one, then two, and soon three fingers into the brunette, thrusting steadily. Emma’s mouth sealed around Regina’s clit, her tongue fluttering over it relentlessly. She felt Regina’s magic release her hand but she kept her fingers where they were, pushing still harder and deeper into her girlfriend. She curled them against the front wall, stroking the spongy spot which caused Regina to shudder and rock against Emma. 

“Fuck, I’m close!” Regina cried, her hand shooting out to grip the edge of the table as her body hurtled towards her pleasure peak. 

Emma was unrelenting, her mouth still working steadily and her fingers never stopping. She could feel Regina’s walls beginning to tightened, her digits encased in hot, wet velvet. Her own core was drenched and she couldn’t wait for Regina to touch her too. She was distracted from this thought however when she felt the hand still grasping Regina’s ass being magically moved. Her mouth hesitated when she realised what the brunette was controlling her to do. Her magically-controlled hand stopped too. She looked up.

“Is this ok?” Regina asked. She might be able to control Emma in any way she wished but that didn’t mean she wanted to make Emma do something she wasn’t comfortable with.

Without moving her mouth away from Regina’s sex, Emma nodded. Regina let out a sigh of relief and then cried in delight as Emma’s mouth resumed its sucking and licking of her clit. The three fingers buried deep in her cunt pumped once more and the other hand joined in too. A solitary finger dipped down to coat itself in Regina’s juices before sliding back up her ass crack and pressing lightly against the tight ring of muscles. 

Glancing down at the contact, Regina’s eyes met with bright green. Emma looked both aroused and intrigued at what was happening. It was new to their relationship and something she hadn’t considered even suggesting to the brunette. Squeezing her thighs together, Emma realised they’d been missing out on a lot. Regina’s eyes snapped shut as Emma’s finger pressed a little harder. She rocked back into the contact her nerve endings on fire even at the external stimulation. Emma’s eyes closed too and she redoubled her effort, sucking Regina’s clit harder and speeding up the thrusts of her three fingers. But her focus was on her other finger which, slowly, began to push past the tight circle and enter Regina. 

Palms landed heavily on her shoulder as Regina bent over, her ass pushed backwards, away from Emma’s mouth and towards her finger. The blonde panted heavily as she kept moving both hands, three fingers deep inside and the tip of her fourth just teasing Regina’s rear entrance. The body above her convulsed and the brunette’s breathing was harsh and ragged. Tilting her head up, Emma pulled a nipple into her mouth, grazing her teeth across the tip and causing another mini-orgasm to rack her girlfriend’s body. 

Suddenly, Emma found herself flat on her back, hands pinned to either side of her head and Regina standing above her breathing heavily. She stared up at the spent woman, never having seen her quite so … dishevelled after an orgasm. She wished she could touch her, hold her. But clearly Regina didn’t want that as she crouched down above Emma, her feet planted either side of the blonde’s hips and her juice actually dripping onto Emma’s stomach. The muscles twitched as the come landed, warm and sticky.

Emma held up her thumb and forefinger touching to make a circle to as if the brunette was ok, unsure if Regina had somehow pushed herself too far.

“I’m amazing,” Regina husked, steadying her still quaking body by placing her hands on Emma’s breasts and squeezing. “Are you ok?”

Emma nodded her ascent, smiling widely.

“Good.”

Without warning, Regina moved herself back down Emma’s body. Still out of breath, she dragged her fingers through the mess of Emma’s stomach and gathered her own essence up, smearing it over Emma’s skin. She sucked one finger into her mouth, winking at Emma as she did so. The blonde groaned, opening her hips wider as Regina settled between them. The brunette licked her lips at the sight before her. Bare, pink, glistening folds, spread out before her, waiting to be touched. Emma didn’t have to wait long.

Two fingers entered her centre swiftly, pushing deep before sliding slowly out. She twisted her wrist, spread her fingers a little before burying them inside once more. Emma whimpered. Regina repeated her move, scissoring a little wider every time. She loved to watch her girlfriend’s entrance stretch for her. Soon she added a third finger, and then, after a while a forth. Emma’s back arched off the cold stone floor as she felt herself being filled up. She pushed her cunt towards Regina, silently asking for the brunette’s mouth. She got it. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as Regina’s hot tongue swiped through her folds, circled her clit and then laved it powerfully. The tip flicked it, stimulating the nerves almost to the point of pain as her fingers pummelled in and out, Emma’s core stretched perfectly around Regina’s hand. Just as she came, Regina’s hand reached for the dagger, releasing Emma from her magical bonds.

“Fuck!” Emma cried, her hands flying to Regina’s hair and pulling her girlfriend even closer. Her hips rocked against the eager mouth, as her walls clamped so tightly around Regina’s fingers that the brunette had to stop moving. Emma’s body twitched and shuddered through her crest until she at last released Regina’s head, collapsing back onto the floor and breathing heavily. Regina slid her fingers free, cleaned the come from them with her tongue and lay down beside her spent girlfriend.

“Wow,” Emma said turning to smile dopily at Regina. “That was amazing.”

“It wasn’t too much?” Regina asked, her cheeks flushed a little as the memory of what she had made Emma do washed over her.

“No,” Emma said, rolling onto her side and pulling Regina into her arms. “It was fucking hot. You’re sexy as hell when you’re riding my finger in your ass.”

Regina buried her face in embarrassment in Emma’s shoulder and the blonde chuckled. 

“Seriously, Regina. That was one of the best sessions we’ve ever had. You don’t have to feel ashamed of liking your ass touched. It’s perfectly normal. And, might I add, pleasurable.”

“You like it too?” Regina asked, raising her head to look at Emma once more.

“I do,” Emma nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Regina shrugged. “It’s not very regal, is it?”

Emma laughed. “Honey, if it brings you pleasure, then it’s something I want to do to you. I don’t care what it is. I want us to have amazing sex with each other and one of the ways we do that is to be honest about what we like, right?”

Regina thought about this. She knew the blonde was right and she also knew there were a few things she wanted to try she hadn’t broached with the blonde before. Which probably meant there were things Emma hadn’t told her either. 

“You first,” she said eventually.

“Me first what?” 

“What do you want to try?” Regina asked. “We’ve been together for months now, is there anything we haven’t done which you’d be interested in?”

Emma quirked her lips in thought. “Strap-on?” she suggested after a moment.

Regina’s eyes darkened at once. She rolled onto her back and flexed her fingers. Emma propped herself up on her elbow, intrigued as to what Regina was about to do.

“I can do much better than a strap-on,” Regina said, her hands now hovering over her sex.

Emma’s eyes widened in realisation and her gaze snapped down to where smoke was now billowing between Regina’s thighs.

“Holy fuck, that’s hot,” Emma gasped as the purple haze cleared and she saw what Regina had magicked onto her own body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: quick extra thing. I 100% agree with what Emma says here. If you like something, tell your partner. Also, if you don’t like them, tell them too. Sex takes two people (at least :P) and it’s something you can experiment with together. Honesty in the bedroom is so important and something we should all practice. Along with safe sex, of course. Peace out!


	3. 5.04 - The Broken Kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok so episode 3 didn’t have any SwanQueen scenes and episode 4 totally sucked in terms of screen time so I used some artistic licence …

“Hey, not in front of the patient,” Regina remarked, stalking over to the arguing couple. “Given the state she’s in, anything could set her off.”

David and Mary Margaret had the grace to look guilty and together all three of them turned back towards Emma who was lying dazed and unaware on the couch.

“She needs rest,” Regina announced. “Somewhere quiet and away from prying eyes.”

“I know the perfect place,” Henry said, concern etched on his face.

“Great, let’s go,” Regina said. “Hook, stay with the quarrelling true loves and please try to stop them having a full-blown domestic before we work out how to get the darkness out of Emma.”

The pirate nodded sullenly at the order and helped Henry lift Emma to her feet. With her arms draped around Regina and Henry’s shoulders, she shuffled from the room.

* * *

“A stable?” Regina frowned as Henry pushed open the barn door to which he had led his two mothers. “Emma hates horses, remember?”

“They’re all out in the field,” Henry assured her. “And I promise you we won’t be disturbed here. If it’s peace and quiet she needs to rest, this is the place.”

Regina looked sceptical but helped her son support Emma into the barn anyway. The familiar, homely scent of the horses reached her nose and she sighed in satisfaction. She always forgot how much she missed riding until she was around the majestic animals again. Henry pointed to the far corner where an old bench was propped against one wall. Leaving his two mothers together, he grabbed some winter rugs and laid them out on the hard wood. It was a testament to how out of it Emma was that she didn’t protest to being laid down on the smelly fabrics. Regina pulled a bucket towards her, turned it over, and sat down next to Emma’s head.

“I’ve just got to go and tell someone we’re here and to ask not to be disturbed,” Henry said.

“Who?” Regina asked, turning to her son whose cheeks were a little flushed.

“Just the owner of the stable,” he said. “I won’t be long.”

Before Regina could ask another questions, he had disappeared out into the bright sunlight. The brunette briefly wondered what her son was hiding from her but was distracted from this thought when a cold hand reached out and grasped her forearm.

“Emma,” she said, whipping her head around and placing her own hand over the blonde’s. “Are you ok?”

“Where am I?” Emma croaked, looking around the unfamiliar space.

“Somewhere quiet,” Regina said, curling her fingers around Emma’s hand and squeezing softly. “We thought you might want to get out of the castle for a while.”

Emma’s nose wrinkled as she suddenly registered the strong scent of the blankets on which she lay.

“Horses? Really?” she frowned.

“Henry’s idea, sorry,” Regina said. “I did tell him but there was nowhere else for us to go without arousing Arthur’s suspicions.”

“Suspicions of what?” Emma asked.

“Of who you really are. Of who I really am. And of why you were breaking into my chambers to try and steal the Dark One’s dagger.”

Emma blushed. She hadn’t realised her friend knew what she had been doing that morning. But then again, Regina had always been able to read her like a book so she shouldn’t be surprised.

“Well, I didn’t manage to, so no harm was done,” Emma sighed. “I guess you saw me coming with that protection spell you cast.”

“I guess I did,” Regina nodded.

The brunette had felt the magical barrier she had placed around the silver weapon shudder under Emma’s touch that morning. By the time she had returned to her room however, the younger woman was lying in a dazed state on the couch and she had called the others to try and help.

“It was Rumple,” Emma said, answering the unasked question. “He made me do it.”

Regina frowned. “Rumplestiltskin? But he’s back in Storybrooke, in a coma.”

“The real one is, yes,” Emma nodded. “But the Dark One is here. Or at least, in my mind. He speaks to me, tells me what to do. I can’t … it’s impossible not to hear him, Regina. It’s driving me mad. I don’t know how to get rid of him and I don’t think I’m strong enough to keep him at bay forever. This morning, he wanted me to shatter that spell you’d placed on the dagger but I managed not to. That’s why I was …”

She trailed off, shrugging awkwardly from her position laying down as she offered Regina the explanation she had been waiting for. Regina, on the other hand, now had countless more questions. But she knew which one to ask first.

“Can you see him now?”

Emma’s eyes darted around the stable. “No,” she said. “No, he’s not here. For now.”

“Good,” Regina said. “Tell me if he turns up again, ok?”

“I will but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Why not?”

Emma pushed herself up into a sitting position, having felt her strength steadily returning to her. Their hands unclasped and Emma ignored the sudden feeling of loss as Regina’s warm skin slipped from her own. Instead she patted the space she had vacated and Regina moved gratefully into it, rubbing her ass where the rim of the bucket had dug into her flesh.

“He only appears when I’m scared or feeling lost,” Emma said. “He’s like a guide, I suppose. His job seems to be to help me embrace the darkness but he can only do it when I’m vulnerable and exposed. Right now, I’m neither of those things so he won’t bother trying.”

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way,” Regina said, “because you’re safe here. We’re all working as hard as possible to get Merlin out of the tree so he can rid you of the darkness and until we find a way to do that, I promise you I will keep you safe.”

“You can’t promise that,” Emma said.

“Of course I can,” Regina said. “I’m the saviour, remember?”

Despite the situation, Emma laughed. It was the first time she had done so since the darkness invaded her body. It felt foreign somehow, like her soul was resisting the happiness. Something flickered deep inside her. She shivered. And, of course, Regina noticed.

“What?” she asked, an alarmed on her face. “Is it Rumple? Is he here?” Her eyes scanned the barn although she knew it was pointless to look.

“No, I told you. He won’t come when I’m feeling safe.”

“Then why did you just shudder like that?” Regina said, frowning once more.

Emma cast around for the right words to describe what had happened before answering.

“The laugher,” she said finally. “It was the first time I had laughed since this whole thing started. My body, or the darkness within me, didn’t like it. I felt it contracting almost, trying to stop me because it was affected by the happiness.”

“Like it was weakening?”

“Maybe,” Emma said. “I’m not sure.”

Regina turned from the blonde and stared out across the empty stable, wondering. Emma watched her, knowing the older woman was trying to work out a plan to use this new piece of information.

“What? You think I can laugh the darkness away?” Emma said after a pause.

Regina shrugged. “It sounds ridiculous when you put it like that but it almost makes sense, right? I mean, usually people who consume the darkness submit to it at once, no resistance. There’s never been a documented case of someone putting up a fight quite like you’re doing. So there’s also never been someone who has expressed true joy whilst cursed.”

Emma looked sceptical. “Even if that did work, I hardly think I’m in the mood to laugh enough to force the Dark One from me.”

Regina turned slowly back to the blonde, a challenging glint in her eye. Emma raised her eyebrows.

“What? You’re taking that as a challenge? Am I going to see new stand-up comedian Regina Mills showcasing her one-liners?”

“Not exactly,” Regina said slowly.

Emma shrieked as slender fingers darted to her stomach, tickling her sides mercilessly. She writhed and twisted, trying to move away from Regina and fell immediately onto the dusty stable floor. Regina followed, straddling her waist and sitting astride her hips as she continued to tickle. Her fingers moved quickly, curling and uncurling against the tender flesh through Emma’s cloak. The blonde let out a cackle of laughter, her body still trying to escape but her eyes locked on Regina’s. She could feel something deep within her, clenching and unclenching, an unbridled anger filling up inside her. She snapped her eyes shut, concentrating on keeping the darkness at bay as Regina continued to tickle her, refusing to obey the command which told her to blast the brunette from her body.

“Moms?”

The fingers on her stomach stopped but the weight on her hips remained. She turned her head and looked up into Henry’s confused face. He was staring back and forth between the two women, his forehead furrowed at the sight which greeted him.

“Um, anyone going to explain to me what the hell is going on?” he asked when neither Regina nor Emma said anything.

Suddenly, Regina’s body shifted from Emma’s and the brunette stood, brushing herself down and then holding out her hand to heave Emma to her feet. The younger woman also dusted herself down and resumed her previous seat, her heart pounding a little. Regina gave a little cough and then turned to Henry.

“We were just trying something,” she said lamely.

“Tickling?” he asked incredulously.

Regina shrugged. It seemed silly now but just a few minutes before she had thought it was a good idea. Emma jumped to her defence before she had to think up an excuse for what their son had seen.

“We were trying to see if laughter was enough to banish the darkness from me, kid,” Emma said. “I laughed earlier and felt whatever’s controlling the bad stuff in my body resist the happiness. Your mom was just trying to get me to be happy enough to poof out the Dark One.”

“Tickling?” Henry repeated.

Emma cocked her head to one side, eyeing her son. “Got any better ideas?”

Henry hesitated for a moment before smirking.

“What goes in hard and dry but comes out soft and wet?”

“HENRY!” both women exclaimed at once, horrified at the thought of their son knowing anything about sex.

Laughing, he held up his hands in surrender. “Relax, relax. The answer’s chewing gum. Geez, guys, I never knew the two of you had such filthy minds.”


	4. 5.05 - Dreamcatcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: still not managing to crow-bar sex into these scenes. It’s so hard when they’re in ‘relationships’ because I don’t want to make them cheat. But I hope you like what I’ve written anyway!

“I’m sorry,” Emma gasped as Regina lowered the dreamcatcher, her big brown eyes filled with tears.

Regina nodded mutely, still staring at the now empty circle in her hands. Emma hesitated before reaching out and capturing one of the falling teardrops in a glass vial. As soon as it was stoppered, she discarded it on the nearby table and wrapped her arms around Regina. The brunette’s frame sagged into the support, her face buried in the crook of Emma’s neck and her tears flowing freely. Emma stayed silent, sure there were no words in the world which could comfort her friend who had just relived one of the worst moments of her life. Regina didn’t seem to mind the silence, she just cried.

Eventually, when Emma’s shoulder was wet with tears, Regina pulled away. She wiped her red eyes and turned from the blonde, her cheeks a little flushed. She knew it was foolish to be embarrassed but she had been brought up to consider sadness, as well as love, a weakness. As she was reminded of that statement, however, she also remembered that the woman who had imparted such ‘wisdom’ had ripped out her first love’s heart and crushed it in front of her so perhaps they weren’t words to live by.

“Regina?”

A gentle hand landed on her shoulder and she felt the fingers squeeze softly. Sniffing, she turned back and offered Emma a watery smile.

“Regina, I’m so sorry,” Emma said again. “I should never have made you do that. I didn’t know how … brutal it was.”

The brunette shook her head. “It’s ok,” she said. “It was a long time ago. I’m fine, really. It was just a shock seeing it again. And so vividly.”

“Time might help wounds to heal but it will never stop them aching occasionally,” Emma said. “What your mother did was reprehensible and I don’t know how you ever forgave her.”

“I didn’t,” Regina replied. “Not really. But I wanted her approval so badly that I was willing to overlook some things, or perhaps delude myself that she really had been acting in my best interests.”

“No mother should ever inflict pain like that on their child,” Emma said, her voice dripping with venom. “Cora wasn’t doing what was best for you. She was doing what was best for herself. If she had just accepted your love for Daniel then everything would have been different. You wouldn’t have become the Evil Queen, you wouldn’t have cast the curse -,”

“We wouldn’t have Henry,” Regina interrupted.

Emma’s eyebrows raised at the realisation. Did that validate it somehow? Did Daniel’s death, and the deaths of countless inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest become somehow less … significant because of the wonderful, beautiful, kind-hearted son she now had?

“Don’t feel guilty,” Regina said softly, interrupting Emma’s thoughts. “Don’t feel bad for thinking it.”

“Thinking what?” Emma asked, a little defensively.

“For thinking that you’re glad we have Henry. And for realising that without my curse, without my heartbreak, we wouldn’t have him. Which means you must, on some level, be ok with what my mother did.”

“But I’m not though,” Emma protested. “I mean, of course I’m glad we have Henry and I would do anything to have the kid in my life. But that doesn’t mean I’m accepting of how your mother fucked you over. She did an evil, manipulative, unforgivable thing that day in the stables, Regina. And yes, something good came out of it over thirty years down the line but that doesn’t justify it. And it certainly doesn’t mean you deserved what happened to you. No one should lose love like that, no one.”

“Not even the Evil Queen?” Regina asked, eyebrow raised.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I didn’t mean to call you that.”

“Why not?” Regina asked. “It’s who I was.”

Emma shrugged. “But it’s not who you are now. I shouldn’t have said it, Regina, really.”

“You know the Evil Queen will always be a part of me,” Regina said. “She’s not only in my past. She’s part of what made me the person I am today. I don’t want to be her ever again but she taught me a thing or two about life in between the massacres. Am I sorry I became her? Of course, but I don’t regret it. Does that make sense?”

“Kinda,” Emma said. “Although I’m not sure I can relate.”

“Do you regret becoming the Dark One?”

“No,” Emma said at once. “If I hadn’t, you would have been consumed by the darkness. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Regina smiled softly. “Thank for, by the way.”

“What for?”

“For sacrificing yourself to save me. I’m not sure I ever said it but I’m so grateful to you, Emma. If that … thing, had taken over my body, there’s no way I would have been able to control it like you are. As I said, the Evil Queen is a part of me and with the Dark One swirling around too, I’m sure she would become dominant once more.

“Well then let’s be glad that didn’t happen,” Emma chuckled.

“It won’t happen to you either,” Regina said. “We’ll find away to get that darkness out of you before it overpowers the light. I’m not losing another person I love to the temptation of dark magic.”

Emma’s eyes widened in surprise and she felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Regina too realised what she had said.

“As a friend,” she amended hastily. “I love you as a friend.”

“Right,” Emma said, her throat suddenly dry.

Regina looked down to the dreamcatcher she still held in her hand, remembering what she had just watched in its enchanted circle. She had loved Daniel. Deeply, fiercely. And she had lost him. She had loved her father. He had gone too. Being loved by Regina Mills was dangerous. It got people killed. Which is why she had never said those three little words to Robin Hood. She wasn’t even sure she felt it, if she was being honest with herself. So why had she said it to Emma? It was true, certainly, but she had surprised herself by admitting it. It seemed she had caught the blonde off-guard too.

“It’s ok,” Emma said, her voice jolting Regina from her thoughts. “I’m not going to keel over now you’ve said that.”

Regina chuckled darkly. “Oh I have no doubt you can take care of yourself.”

“Good,” Emma said. “So why do you look so worried?”

Regina shrugged and laid the dreamcatcher down at last. Already the images of Daniel’s death were fading from her mind. She didn’t need to dwell on what she had seen, not again.

“I guess I feel guilty,” she said after a moment. “If I was going to say those words to anyone, it should have been Robin.”

“You’ve not said it either?”

Regina’s eyes widened. “You’ve said it to Hook, I’ve heard you.”

“I’ve said it because I’ve been about to die or some dark force was wrapped around me. I’ve never said it normally, just strolling down the street or over dinner. He knows it’s forced when I say it, that I say it because I feel I ought to, not because it’s what my heart tells me.”

“Maybe when we get back to Storybrooke and things calm down enough for you to take a stroll or have dinner without being interrupted by some monster it will happen.”

“Perhaps,” Emma shrugged. “Doubtful though.”

“So why are you with him?” Regina asked.

“Why are you with Robin?” Emma shot back.

Both women chuckled, despite the situation. It was ridiculous, when they thought about it. Two grown women in relationships they were not invested in because it was better than being alone. Neither woman wanted to be the one to end whatever was going on between them and their man but they weren’t about to take the next step either. It was a stalemate. And an increasingly unhappy one.

“Pretty sure we deserve more than this,” Emma mused.

“More than what?”

“More than two mundane relationships with people we’re not really interested in because we can’t stand the thought of someone not loving us,” the blonde said bluntly. “After all, that’s why we’re with them, right? They will love us without reciprocation. It’s the best of both worlds.”

“Wouldn’t the best of both worlds be being in a relationship where you both loved each other?” Regina frowned.

“Oh yeah,” Emma said, nodding slowly with the realisation. “But that’s not going to happen, is it?”

“Why not?” Regina asked.

Emma laughed. “Regina, have you seen the men in Storybrooke? Come on, there’s not exactly a substantial group to pick from.”

“Maybe you’re narrowing your horizons too much,” Regina said, surprising herself by her bold statement.

“Dating someone outside Storybrooke?” Emma asked. “Do we even know if it’s possible for people to cross the town line?”

“Not what I meant,” Regina said. “Forget it, don’t worry. Come on, let’s go and get Merlin out the tree.”

She walked quickly towards the door and pulled it open. Before she could step through however, Emma’s hand appeared beside her head and slammed it shut. Gasping, Regina spun on the spot and looking up into the deep green eyes above her. Emma was stood less than a foot away from her, cheeks flushed and pupils wide.

“Regina,” she whispered. “Do you mean -?”

Wordlessly, Regina nodded.

Emma pressed her lips firmly against Regina’s, her hands cupping the brunette’s cheeks as she stepped closer. Hands landed on her hips, anchoring their pelvises together as Regina let out a breathy sigh at the contact. Emma’s tongue darted through the opening, tasting the brunette for the first time. Their tongues met, tentatively touching and moving against one another until Regina conceded control to the blonde and settled back against the hard wood.

It was Emma who broke the kiss, breathing heavily and eyes closed. Regina leaned her forehead against the blonde’s, their breath mingling in the small space between them as they both tried to slow their racing hearts.

“Are you ok?” Regina asked Emma who seemed to be in a state of shock. Aroused shock.

Emma nodded mutely and stepped backwards, putting some space between herself and the beautiful brunette in a way she hoped would allow her to think clearly. She ran her hands through her hair and finally lifted her gaze to meet Regina’s. The older woman offered her a small, reassuring smile.

“You didn’t know?” Regina said gently.

“That I liked you?” Emma asked, her voice shaking somewhat. “No, I knew. I just didn’t think you’d ever feel the same way so I tried to move on.”

“To Hook,” Regina said.

Emma quirked her lips slightly. “Perhaps.”

Regina walked up to the blonde and kissed her again, soft and gentle and full of so much hope.

“You shouldn’t be with someone you don't love just because you can’t be with who you really want,” she said when she broke apart.

“Pot kettle,” Emma laughed.

“Touché,” Regina said. “I suppose we both need to have a certain conversation with our men, don’t we?”

“You mean -?”

“I want us to see where this goes? Yes,” Regina nodded. “And I’m not going to do so behind Robin’s back. Or anyone’s for that matter. I’ve kept enough secrets in my life and I don’t want to keep something so important and potentially life-changing to myself. I’m tired of pretending, Emma, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Emma said at once. “I’m so tired. But don’t you think we should figure out how to get the darkness out of me first?”

“Well if you remember, this whole conversation started because we were collecting my tears over my first lost love. Why don’t we go and see if we’ll be able to free Merlin with them.”

* * *

The two women stared despondently at the tree in which Merlin remained hopelessly trapped. Regina sighed and leaned back against the wall. So it had all been for nothing. She had relived Daniel’s death and watched her mother kill him all over again and it hadn’t worked. A hand landed on her arm, squeezing softly. Well, maybe something had come out of it. She turned and offered Emma a small smile.

“Maybe your heartbreak wasn’t strong enough.” Regina opened her mouth to protest but Emma held up a hand in defence. “I know it was real but there’s me now. You’ve moved on, you’ve healed,” the blonde murmured. “Maybe the curse which traps him knows that. And awful as it was, your heart has mended now and is ready to love again.”

Regina nodded and smiled wider at the explanation Emma offered her. “I think it is.”

Emma was about to press her lips to Regina’s when she heard footsteps approaching from the far side of the tree and turned to see Henry stomping towards his two mothers. She pulled back, sensing now wasn’t the time to break the news to their son and waited patiently until the teenager came to a sulky stop before them.

“Henry, what’s wrong?” Regina asked, alarmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: and return to the show …


	5. 5.08 - Birth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: so there were literally no SwanQueen scenes in episodes 6 and 7! Rubbish! But then this gorgeous line was presented to me to play with!

“There’s a difference between not knowing something and not wanting to admit it. Those walls you put up Emma,” Regina said, rolling back her crimson velvet sleeve, “they’re about to come down.”

Emma’s eyes went wide as she saw Regina reach for the dagger. She couldn’t let Regina control her, not again. She’d find out the truth this time, Emma was sure of it. And she was also sure she wasn’t ready for Regina to know her deepest, darkest desire.

“Regina, please,” Emma begged, holding her hands up defensively. “Please don’t do this.”

The brunette ignored her, fingers clasping the cold handle tightly as she held the blade out in front of her. She saw the fear on Emma’s face but ignored the clenching of her heart at the sight. She needed to do this, she told herself. For Emma’s sake.

“Why are you not letting go of the darkness?” she asked, her tone low and steady.

“I want to,” Emma said, shrinking away from the woman before her.

“That’s not what I asked,” Regina said, her hand shaking slightly. “Why can you not light the ember? What are you holding back?”

“I … I don’t want to make Excalibur whole,” Emma said at last.

“Why not?” Regina asked.

“Because then I’ll be free of the darkness.”

“And why do you not want that?” Regina asked, taking a step towards the blonde who had started to back away.

“Because …,” Emma started, her voice trembling. “Because when I’m the Dark One, I don’t have to deal with the truth.”

“What truth?” Regina said. “What won’t you face, Emma?”

“Hook.”

Regina’s step faltered as her eyebrows raised. She had not been expecting that. Nevertheless, she flexed her fingers around the blade and pressed on. They were so close.

“What about Hook don’t you want to deal with?” she asked, unable to keep the bite out of her tone at the mention of her friend’s boyfriend.

“That I don’t want him.”

Emma’s own admission surprised both women despite the fact that the dagger was forcing the blonde to tell the truth she had known all along. Regina swallowed thickly before asking her final question.

“Who do you want?”

Emma’s eyes were filled with tears when they finally met the brilliant brown orbs before her. As soon as she gave her answer, their lives would never be the same again. She bit her trembling bottom lip for a moment before answering in barely more than a whisper.

“You.”

The dagger hit the forest floor with a dull thud as it slipped from Regina’s grasp. The brunette slumped back against the side of the well and Emma collapsed to her knees, hands covering her streaming eyes. It should never have happened like that. Regina should never have found out like that. Emma had wanted to tell her for years, had wanted to admit her feelings but she had never been strong enough. She still wasn’t, she realised, and it had taken Regina controlling her with the dagger for her to finally confess her deepest secret. Wiping her eyes, Emma looked up and was surprised to see that Regina had disappeared. No, she thought. Not now. We have to talk about this. Concentrating hard, she located the brunette in her mind and a cloud of smoke enveloped her body and the dagger.

“Jesus, Emma!” Regina exclaimed as the blonde materialised in front of her.

She was sitting on a smooth, flat stone beside a small stream, the water tumbling over the rocks before her. She had needed to leave. She had to get out of there and find somewhere she could be alone, to think. It seemed Emma wasn’t going to allow her that luxury however and had tracked her down to the quiet spot she had stumbled upon a few days before during one of her many walks through the Camelot forest.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “But I think we need to talk.”

Regina scoffed. “You think?”

“I told you not to do it,” Emma said, reminding the brunette she had no one to blame but herself for what had just been revealed. “I warned you not to make me say it.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at the blonde. “I didn’t know you were going to … say that.”

“Didn’t you?” Emma asked, sitting down beside the brunette. “Did you really have no idea? Are you honestly saying that came out of the blue? After five years, Regina, did you really not … guess?”

Regina sighed and leaned backwards, resting on her hands as she looked out over the water rushing past. No, she hand’t been surprised, not really. But she had been so doggedly set on getting the darkness out of Emma, she had temporarily forgotten about the delicate dance both women had been doing around their feelings for years. And now Emma had said it, voiced for the first time what had been the elephant in the room for so long. It was out there, exposed and vulnerable. And it needed to be talked about.

“I knew,” Regina said quietly.

“But you still made a life with Robin?”

“You made a life with Hook,” Regina shot back. “And you met him first, might I add.”

“Yes but I met him when you still hated my guts,” Emma reminded the brunette. “I thought what I felt for you was … I dunno, lust? Delusional, self-destructive passion? Something I could never have, I suppose. And then by the time we became friends and actually grew close enough for me to realise that it was so much more than that, Hook already loved me.”

“And you didn’t want to break the pirate’s heart?” Regina asked, a slight sneer in her tone.

Emma frowned. “No, of course not,” she said. “He doesn’t deserve that. It’s not his fault he fell in love with someone who had no hope of loving him back.”

“Why did you stay with him for so long?” Regina asked. “After you knew how you felt, I mean.”

“Because you were with Robin,” Emma shrugged. “and there was Roland and Henry to think about. I wasn’t going to leave Hook and make myself available to you in the vain attempt to get you to realise how you feel. Or … or don’t feel?”

Emma stopped. She suddenly realised that she hadn’t received any sign from the brunette that she was even remotely interested in the young woman yet. For all she knew, she could have been spilling her heart out to someone who was completely disinterested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her.

“Emma, it’s ok,” Regina said, reaching out a hand and grasping Emma’s fingers which were twisting around each other. The brunette knew exactly what the other woman was thinking and smiled softly. “I do feel the same way.”

“You do?” Emma asked, her voice full of hope.

“I do,” Regina smiled. “But … it’s not the right time.”

Emma sighed and ran her hands through her hair. No, it wasn’t the right time. But then she doubted whether there ever would be right time when it came to the two of them. Neither were exactly fortunate when it came to relationships so it made sense that anything between them would be a car wreck of emotions before it had even begun.

“Do you think that maybe … when we get the darkness out of me … when we’re back in Storybrooke and there’s a break in the seemingly endless magical threats, that maybe there will be a right time?” Emma said, turning to look at Regina.

“I hope so,” Regina nodded, smiling encouragingly at Emma. “I want there to be.”

“And what about Robin?”

“What about Hook?”

Both women laughed despite the situation. What a mess they had found themselves in. Regina answered first.

“He’s a good man, but I don’t love him. It’s not fair to stay with him now, I suppose. Although I will make sure my insane sister doesn’t take his baby away from him.”

“And I don’t love Hook either,” Emma said. “But he’s been so good to me since I’ve become the Dark One and his support and reassurances have been really, really helpful. He managed to make Rumplestiltskin disappear, you know?”

Regina’s eyebrows rose. No, she hadn’t known.

“How did he do that?” There was a hint of jealousy in the words, Emma noted.

“Distracted me, made me believe in myself again,” Emma said, thinking back to their ride on the horse through the countryside. She briefly wondered what it would have felt like to have her arms wrapped around Regina, not Killian. She felt a jolt between her thighs and quickly looked away from the curious brown eyes before her.

“I’m sure I could distract you too,” Regina said, her voice low and husky as she placed a hand lightly on Emma’s thigh.

Emma flinched and stood up. Regina recoiled at the rejection, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment.

“We can’t, Regina,” Emma said, staring out over the stream, her back to the brunette.

“I know,” Regina spat. “I know,” she repeated, softer this time.

Emma turned back to the brunette and smiled sadly. “Well, at least we both know how the other feels now,” she said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“And you’re the Dark One.”

Emma nodded. “Yeah but I won’t be for long.”

“How do you know that?” Regina asked. She sounded tired, Emma realised. Exhausted from days of worry and searching for a way to rid the blonde of the darkness.

“You did it, Regina,” Emma said, stepping back towards the older woman and taking her hands in her own. “You got me to admit the truth of why I couldn’t light the flame. Now I’ve accepted that and spoken of my feelings for you, I think I’ll be able to do it.”

“You’ll be able to reignite the Prometheus Flame and reforge Excalibur?” Regina asked, squeezing the cold hands within her own.

Emma nodded, smiling. “I will. Because of you.”

Regina looked up into the bright green eyes before her and felt her heart pound in her chest. She hadn’t felt that rush in a long time. She looked away quickly, the emotions overwhelming her. She dropped her hands as she felt Emma’s fingers slide from her own but then gasped as she felt smooth skin cup her cheeks. She looked back up as Emma gently tilted her face until their eyes were locked once more.

“Thank you,” Emma breathed.

Regina swallowed. “You’re welcome.”

Their lips brushed together in the lightest of touches and it lasted a fraction of a second. But it was enough. It was a promise; a promise of the future, of their commitment to each other, of their feelings and desires. Regina’s eyes fluttered closed as she felt Emma’s warm breath on her face, contentment washing over her.

“We’d better get back,” Emma murmured after a while.

“Right,” Regina stuttered, opening her eyes and stepping out of Emma’s reach.

The blonde walked to the rock and picked up the dagger which lay there. Her skin prickled where it touched her, as if it could sense what she was planning to do.

“Come on,” she said, ignoring the warning and turning to Regina. “Let’s go and ignite this old ember and get the darkness out of me once and for all.”


	6. 5.10 - Broken Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: because this is what we all really want isn’t it … NSWF.

“Ok,” Regina said, raising the dreamcatcher in front of her and staring intently at the centre.

Everyone else in the circle did the same and then Emma waved her hand. Bursts of gold flew from each catcher into the minds of the person before it. Regina closed her eyes as the memories of the lost six weeks in Camelot were finally returned to her.

_Dancing with David in the castle … walking down the steps into the ballroom to applause … dancing with Robin … Robin defending me against the knight … Emma saving Robin … Emma and I questing to free Merlin and reliving Daniel’s death … Emma in her bedchamber, naked below me … wait. What? Rewind …_

_My hands glide up her sides, the skin pale in the flickering candlelight. I am sat astride her, my bare sex pressed against the smooth plane of her stomach. I rock my hips and let out a breathy sigh. Emma shudders beneath me, her hands reaching for my body and she pulls me down on top of her, our breasts pressed together as our mouths meet again. Her tongue delves easily into my mouth, her lips moving perfectly against my own. She tastes like cinnamon, sweet and tangy._

_“Regina,” she murmurs against my lips._

_I nod my understanding, knowing without needing to ask what the beautiful woman beneath me desires most. My hand snakes down between our bodies, trailing over her breasts, around her naval and through the neatly trimmed patch of light hairs at the apex of her thighs. Emma arches beneath me as my fingers graze over her clit, her mouth falling open in delight. I kiss it. I can’t not. It’s too tempting. Emma kisses me back, eager and messy as my fingers dip lower._

_I support myself on my elbow, my forearm beneath Emma’s neck and my mouth now suckling her neck. My other hand is busy, buried deep within my lover, pumping in and out steadily. Emma’s mouth lets out a cacophony of moans and breathless sighs, her body wonderfully responsive to every move I make. I push deeper, curling my fingers against the ridged wall of her channel, stroking firmly as I pull out. Just as I thrust in once more, my teeth nip at her neck and Emma cries out, hips bucking up into the movement. I smirk against her skin before laving the reddened area with the flat of my tongue._

_“More,” Emma pants, her hands clawing at my back, pulling me impossibly closer, our sweaty bodies aligned perfectly with my hand trapped between us._

_I oblige, of course. I’ll always oblige Emma Swan. A third finger enters the slick channel and Emma lets out a hiss of delight_ _which ghosts over my ear. I feel my own centre clench, knowing it won’t be long before I too am being filled. But right now it’s all about Emma. I speed up my thrusts, the angle awkward but I don’t care. My wrist is squashed between both our pubis bones and I ignore the slight tingling as the blood flow is reduced. I pump harder. Emma arches beneath me once more, her chest pressed impossibly closer against my own, our nipples grazing each other as we move, sending bolts of pleasure to both our cores._

_Fingernails dig into my back as she comes, ten moon-shaped crescents marked perfectly against my olive skin. I don’t care. In fact, I like it. My hand doesn’t stop as I feel Emma’s body pulse around my fingers, the orgasm making her quake and shudder in delight as her velvet walls squeeze around me, her hot juices flowing over my digits. It’s not until her hands slip from my back and land heavily on the bed beside us that I pull out slowly, cupping the pulsing sex gently before I roll off the panting woman. I lie beside her, my leg thrown over her thighs, my body pressed against her side._

_Emma turns blindly towards me, her lips seeking out my own and we kiss again, a softer, more loving exchange than anything else we’ve shared that night. She lies beside me, regaining control of her body after the powerful orgasm which tore through her. I’m patient. I know it will be worth the wait._

_And I don’t have to wait long. I only close my eyes for a few minutes but they snap open when I feel my legs being gently pushed wider. Craning my neck, I see a smirking blonde and twinkling green eyes nestled between my thighs just before a hot mouth envelopes my wet folds. I fall back against the pillows, my hands flying to fist in her hair so I can pull her closer. Emma comes eagerly, her nose pressed hard against my sex as her tongue delves through my folds._

_It’s hot and wet and so intensely erotic that I know it’s not going to take long for me to come. Her tongue parts my folds, gliding down through the sensitive skin until I feel the tip circle my pulsing hole. I wish it was inside of me and Emma, or perhaps the darkness lurking within her, seems to sense my desire. She pushes in, swirling around and running over my walls. I cry out, fingers tightening in her hair to such a point where I realise it might be hurting her and release. She doesn’t complain though. Instead, she traces back up through my folds, sucking one of them tenderly into her mouth before she envelopes my clit. I buck at the contact. It feels like my nerve endings are on fire. I don’t think I can last much longer and as her tongue begins to flutter against my flesh, I know I’m close to the edge._

_My hands grip the sheets beneath me as I reach my peak. Emma’s mouth is sealed, hot and wet, around my clit and her tongue is tracing an unpredictable pattern on the tender nerve bundle. Every flick is unexpected and sends a jolt of pleasure through my body. I come with a soft cry, fingernails almost ripping the sheets as the ecstasy takes over. Emma’s mouth stays where it is, a loving caress of my sensitive flesh until I gently push her away, my clit twitching almost painfully. She crawls back up to lie beside me, wiping my glistening juices from her lips and chin as she approaches. I reach for her, bringing our mouths together and I sigh as I taste myself on her tongue._

_“We should get back,” Emma says as she lies beside me and covers our bodies with the crumpled sheet we discarded hours before._

_I close my eyes, wanting to shut out reality. She’s right. We do need to get back. The others will be wondering where we are. We’re starting to run out of reasons for why we go missing for several hours each day. I think Robin is starting to get suspicion although Emma assures me Hook has no idea._

_“We can’t go on like this,” I say. “We need to tell them the truth.”_

_“We will,” Emma assures me. “But only once the darkness is out of me, ok?”_

_“Ok,” I say, kissing her once more._

_I swing my legs out of bed and start to search for my clothes. And the memory fades._

_… Merlin released from the tree … Emma’s successful quest to find the Prometheus Flame … Zelena joining forces with Arthur … Hook’s heroic actions to save them all … the reforging of Excalibur … Hook and Emma in the diner … Hook as the Dark One … Emma assuring them that everything was going to be fine._

Regina’s eyes snap open. She stares at the dreamcatcher in front of her and then up at Emma. Everyone else is doing the same, awed by the revelations which their memories afforded them. Emma however, is only looking at one person. Her green eyes are scanning Regina’s face, trying desperately to read the emotions of the brunette. What would happen now Regina knew of their affair in Camelot? Would she still feel the same? Would they finally be together?

The nod was barely a movement. Just the slightest incline of Regina’s head. If Emma had blinked in that moment she would have missed it. But she didn’t. Her thin lips quirked into a brief smile before she looked away, addressing the rest of the room and announcing her plan for defeating Dark Hook. She knew she had a difficult battle ahead of her but there was one thing keeping her going. Regina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: this is my first time writing in the first person and in the present tense. I’m not sure I like it (because it requires more concentration, grammatically) but if you guys enjoy it perhaps I’ll consider it as a style for a short upcoming AU just as a tester …


	7. 5.11 - Swan Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Pretend there’s a pre-existing SwanQueen relationship please, just because! NSFW but it’s sad sex, sorry.

“But to get rid of the darkness you still have to put it in someone,” Regina said, her voice low, “and sacrifice them. Who?”

Emma took a deep shuddering breath before answering. She could feel her heart pounding beneath her ribcage, knowing what she was about to say was going to destroy Regina.

“Me.”

The tears spilled from her dark green orbs as she looked into the face of the woman she loved. Regina’s eyes sparkled too and she rushed forward at once, gripping Emma’s hands tightly in her own.

“No, Emma. Please, there has to be another way,” she pleaded, looking up into the distraught but determined face of her girlfriend.

“There isn’t,” Emma said, her hands coming to cup Regina’s jaw, the pads of her thumbs wiping away the tears spilling from her eyes. “If there was I would do it in a heartbeat, Regina. You know that. This is the only way to save everyone I love from the Dark Ones.”

Regina shook her head, refusing to believe what was being said to her.

“But you’ll … die,” she choked. “Emma I can’t let you do this. I won’t let you do it!”

“You have to,” Emma said. “You promised, Regina, remember? You promised you’d do whatever it takes to keep our family safe. Think of Henry. Think of everyone we love.”

“But I love you too,” Regina said, her arms sliding around Emma’s neck as she stepped closer. “I can’t lose you, Emma. I can’t do it. I’m … I’m not strong enough.”

“Yes you are,” Emma said firmly. “You are so strong, Regina. You’re the only one strong enough to do what needs to be done. That’s why I gave you the dagger in Camelot and that’s why I’m asking you to help me now. Please, I can’t do this without you.”

“And I can’t live without you.”

Emma pulled Regina into a tight hug, their bodies wracked with sobs as they held one another. Their hands fisted in clothes, trying to get impossibly close to the other. It would never be enough. Ever since they got together, neither woman could get enough of the other. And now their time together was going to be cut short.

“You’re going to have to,” Emma mumbled against Regina’s neck. “You have to be strong, Regina. For Henry. For yourself.”

“I can’t lose someone else I love, Emma. I can’t do it.”

Emma pulled back and stepped out of Regina’s arms. She wiped her face and bit her trembling lip.

“But if you don’t do this, everyone we love will die. It’s a sacrifice, Regina. And one we both know I must make.”

Regina shook her head slowly, denying what Emma was saying even though she knew it to be the truth. She ran to Emma again, pulling the blonde tight against her body and smashing their mouths together. The kiss was salty and desperate but neither woman cared. Emma kissed her back, her fingers threading through Regina’s long hair as she deepened the kiss, her tongue pushing past Regina’s lips to taste the brunette for one of the last times. 

It was Regina who began to undress Emma, removing the black, scaly leather jacket she so loathed and discarding it blindly to one side. The leather pants she was more amenable to although she still hated why Emma wore them. They were peeled down Emma’s legs and her boots toed off. Kneeling on the floor, Regina placed kisses across Emma’s smooth abdomen, pausing to run her tongue over one of the stretch marks Henry had left on her skin. Emma shuddered in delight but she needed more and knew they didn’t have much time. She pulled Regina to her feet and started ripping the brunette’s own clothes away. 

Minutes later they were both naked, their mouths still fused together as Regina found herself being walked back until she collided with the cool stone wall of her vault. Emma pinned her there with her hips, their bare bodies pressed hotly together as the kiss continued. Regina looped one of her legs over Emma’s waist and the blonde gripped her thigh, anchoring her more firmly. Regina whimpered at the cool air rushing over her exposed sex. 

“I love you,” Emma breathed as she pulled away, tears still streaming down her face.

“I love you too,” Regina said, her own eyes reddened and bloodshot. “Please, Emma. Let us find another way.”

Emma ignored the brunette’s pleas and instead sank to her knees. Regina’s fingers buried themselves in her white blonde hair, pulling the knotted style loose so it cascaded down Emma’s back. She wished it was its original colour again. The white still scared her a little. But all thoughts of Emma’s appearance as the Dark One evaporated from her mind as she felt Emma’s mouth seal itself hotly around her clit. She cried out, her hips bucking off the wall into the contact. Emma’s hands came up to steady her body, fingernails digging lightly into her flesh. Regina tried to obey but her nerve endings felt like they were on fire. Every swipe of Emma’s tongue, every lave of her folds, every suck of her clit sent her body into overdrive. She moaned in delight as two of Emma’s fingers swiftly entered her. Since becoming the Dark One, their sex life had been more … controlled. At least by Emma. She didn’t like Regina touching her and often refused any contact. But she touched Regina. With more confidence, more passion, and more adventurous fingers and mouth than ever before.

Regina shuddered as she felt Emma’s slick fingers moved to her ass. That was another new aspect of their sexual relationship which had appeared since Emma took in the darkness. Regina wasn’t complaining, although she had pouted when Emma refused to allow her to return the favour. She widened her stance however as she felt Emma’s fingers circle her back entrance before pushing gently inside. She moaned in delight as she felt her body open for the blonde, her clit twitching in Emma’s mouth as she rocked forwards. Emma glanced upwards, her eyes locking with Regina’s at once and both their hearts breaking just a little bit more as they realised this would be one of their last moments together. Regina caressed Emma’s cheeks, wiping away the tears which still trickled down until Emma’s eyes fluttered closed and she focused once more on bringing the brunette to orgasm. 

It didn’t take long. Emma kept two fingers buried deep inside Regina’s tight right of muscles, wiggling them lightly back and forth. She released Regina’s hips at last and thrust two fingers from her other hand suddenly into her neglected core. Regina screamed, her body overwhelmed with the sensations of being so utterly, wonderfully filled. Emma sucked harder on her clit, feeling Regina’s body tighten around her intrusions and knowing the brunette was about to tumble over the edge into orgasmic bliss. 

Emma’s name reverberated off the walls as Regina came, followed by a heart-wrenching sob as Regina’s knees buckled and she landed in Emma’s arms. The blonde held her close, their lips meeting and their tears mingling as they grieved for the impending loss of their relationship. Emma didn’t even protest when Regina pushed her backwards onto the floor, straddling her body. Their mouths never parted and Emma allowed the brunette to dominate for once, ignoring the urges of the darkness inside her to regain the upper hand. The voices in her head were silenced at once when Regina’s fingers grazed over her clit. She stroked several times, rubbing tight circles over the hard bundle of nerves before dipping lower and coating her fingers in Emma’s essence. 

When she entered Emma’s channel for what was to be the final time, Regina broke down completely, her face buried in Emma’s neck and her body wracked with sobs. Arms pulled her closer, trapping her hand between their bodies but neither woman cared. Regina cried and cried, Emma’s own sobs joining the noise as they lay there. Regina was still crying as her fingers began to move, pumping slowly at first but soon speeding up. Emma had liked sex a little rougher since becoming the Dark One. Three fingers slid easily through her wetness, the tips curling to run over her ridged walls every time she pulled out. Emma’s hips began to rock in time, her body trembling as she felt her orgasm begin to crest. A forth finger sent her over the edge, shuddering and quaking beneath Regina who watched through tear-filled eyes as her girlfriend came beautiful undone. 

When Emma at last lay still, Regina collapsed back onto her, crying harder than ever. Emma hugged her tightly, her eyes sore now from her sadness. 

It took a long time for the two women to eventually stand up. They dressed in silence, neither one knowing quite what to say. It was Emma who spoke first.

“There’s no other way, Regina. We have to do this.”

“I know,” Regina said, her voice trembling. 

Emma held out her hand and the brunette took it at once, lacing their fingers together. Emma pulled her in for a sweet kiss. Regina forced herself not to cry again.

“Come on,” Emma said. “Let’s go and save Storybrooke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: who’s looking forward to the underworld one-shots??? Also, I’m writing a short AU for this summer’s SwanQueen Week - it’s called “Prompting Change” so please check it out if you’re interested. The eight prompts will each form a chapter in a short story.


	8. 5.12 - Souls of the Departed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ok it is becoming incredibly hard to write sex scenes between two people who went to the Underworld to save one of their boyfriend’s. Like, super hard! I’ll try and shoehorn them in but artistic license will be used, I’m sure!

“So it’s settled,” Emma said firmly. “Get them out of here. Get yourself out of here.”

Regina’s deep brown eyes, filled with so many mixed emotions, looked straight into Emma’s distressed face. She wanted to argue. She wanted to protest but Emma’s stared stoically back at her.

“Ok,” she nodded. “Ok, we’ll go. But if you need us, Emma, if anything happens down here, send word and I’ll find a way to get back.”

“I know you will,” Emma said, trying to smile. She failed but Regina appreciated the effort. “How long until the boat leaves?” she asked.

“A couple of hours,” Regina said. “So we can at least help you look for Hook until then.”

Emma nodded and turned to the rest of the group. “OK, Mom, Dad and Henry go and ask at the diner again. If Hook’s beaten up that badly, maybe someone saw something. Robin, can you go and find Gold and let him know you, Regina and Henry are going back to Storybrooke with him and not to leave until you’re all there?”

The group nodded and disbanded at once. Regina stood beside Emma until they were alone. When the graveyard was silent again, she turned to her friend and folded her arms.

“What?” she asked, knowing there was a reason the two of the were now alone.

Emma reluctantly met Regina’s inquisitive stare and beckoned her over to a bench under a large tree. Regina followed and sat down beside the blonde who was leaning forwards, head in her hands.

“What are you thinking?” Regina asked.

Emma ran her fingers through her blonde hair. Regina realised just how much she had missed it after Emma’s stint as the white-haired Dark One.

“Am I a bad mother?” she asked abruptly, turning to face Regina who balked.

“What?”

“Am I a bad mother? To Henry, I mean.”

“Yes, I know to whom you were referring,” Regina said. “And no, you’re not. Why would you even ask that?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Emma said, standing up and pacing across the path before turning and walking back. “Maybe because I broke his heart by forcing his first crush to pretend she didn’t like him? Or because I brought him to the Underworld to find my boyfriend? Not to mention all the things which happened when I first arrived. I didn’t believe him about the storybook and I forced a wedge between the two of you. Oh yeah, and then there’s the teeny tiny fact that I gave him up for adoption when he was born. I mean, what part of that sounds like good parenting?”

Emma sat down heavily on the bench again, blinking back tears. She didn’t know if it was the shock of seeing Hook so battered and bloody or the realisation of exactly where she and her son and their entire family were that had forced these doubts to surface but she knew she couldn’t avoid them now. She’d been ignoring those little voices at the back of her mind for years.

“Emma,” Regina said, reaching over and taking the blonde’s hands carefully in her own. “You’re a fantastic mother to our son.”

“You’re just saying that,” Emma said.

“No, I’m not,” Regina insisted. “He’s lucky to have you as his mother and I’m lucky to have you as a co-parent. You love him so much, Emma. What more could he want?”

“Perhaps not to be dragged down to the Underworld?” Emma suggested, casting an eye around the eery red landscape.

“That would make me a bad mother too then,” Regina pointed out. “I didn’t force him to stay in Storybrooke either. So if you’re guilty of bringing him down here then so I am.”

“But we’re all here because of me, because of Hook,” Emma sighed. “It’s my boyfriend we’re trying to find. The boyfriend who is only down here because I turned him into a Dark One. Oh God, I’m a terrible girlfriend as well, aren’t I?”

Regina squeezed the slender hands still held between her own. 

“Emma, you are many things but a terrible girlfriend and a terrible mother are not on that list. Your loyalty and your fierce devotion brought you down here and yes Henry’s come along as well but that’s because he is, in turn, devoted to you. Don’t feel bad about that. I doubt either of us could have made him stay even if we’d wanted to. And as for everything else, who would have believed a ten year old spouting off about how magic is real? The rift between me and him started long before you showed up as well. And yes, perhaps you being here didn’t make it any better but I wasn’t exactly welcoming, was I?”

“You were a little stand-offish,” Emma said with a dry chuckle.

“Exactly. And as for Violet’s heart. You helped to free Merlin from the tree. You did what was necessary to enact that spell. Henry understands that, especially since now he and Violet are together.”

“Well, they were until we dragged him to the Underworld,” Emma pointed out.

“Ok, so neither of us are winning Mother of the Year any time soon,” Regina laughed. “But we’re both good mothers, Emma. Differently, perhaps, but we’re good nonetheless.”

Emma nodded slowly and stared at the ground. There was one point Regina hadn’t addressed and the blonde wasn’t about to bring it up. Unsurprisingly given how well the two women knew each other, she didn’t have to.

“You were giving him his best chance, Emma,” Regina said softly. “I can’t imagine how difficult a decision it must have been to make but you made it for all the right reasons. What life would he have had with you in jail? Even for those first few months? You knew it was no place for a baby and you also knew you wouldn’t be able to support him and yourself when you got out. You had no choice, Emma. You had to give him up.”

Emma pulled her hands from Regina’s and wiped her face which was streaked with tears. She and Regina had never talked about her decision to give Henry up for adoption, even though it had impacted both their lives in the biggest way imaginable. But here it was, Regina assuring her that Emma had done the right thing. The blonde hadn’t realised how much she had needed to hear it until that moment.

“He told me he forgave me, you know,” Emma said. “Years ago.”

“But you never forgave yourself,” Regina supplied.

Emma nodded.

“It all worked out in the end though, right?” Regina said. “You got your life straight. Henry had a great childhood with me until that book showed up. And then he found you and brought you back here. Ok it’s not been smooth sailing but I think we’re muddling along pretty well as far as unconventional families go.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed. “As far as unconventional families who take vacations to the Underworld go, we’re great.”

Regina chuckled and patted Emma’s thigh. “Come on. Let’s go and join the search party for the last couple of hours. You should spend some time with Henry in case -,”

She stopped talking at once, shocked at the fact her brain had supplied such an ending to a sentence.

“In case I don’t make it back,” Emma finished, dully.

“I’m sure you will,” Regina assured. “You’re a survivor, Emma. As is Hook. You’ll be just fine.”

“And if I’m not,” Emma said, turning to Regina for the first time during their conversation. “Promise me you’ll take care of Henry. Promise me you’ll keep him safe.”

“Of course,” Regina said. “But you’re going to come back to Storybrooke, Emma. I know it. To be honest, I can’t imagine my life there without you now. You’ve gone from being a pain in my ass to, well, my best friend. So yes, come back for Henry but also come back for me. There’s more people than just our son who care about you in that town, you know.”

Emma managed a weak smile. “Thanks.”

They hesitated for a moment before wrapping their arms around each other in a hug. It was still an unfamiliar gesture for the two women, unless Henry was present. But it was nice, comforting. When they broke apart, they stood up in unison.

“Come on,” Regina said. “Let’s go and see what everyone else has found out about Hook’s whereabouts.”


	9. 5.13 - Labor of Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Use your imaginations … aka I found the line, took it completely out of context and voila! SwanQueen sex! Literally all sex. NSFW.

“It’s officially a cold day in hell when I move in with the Charmings,” Regina said, placing the sickeningly sweet photo of the couple back on the side table.

“Firstly, I’m not a Charming, I’m a Swan,” Emma said, coming up behind her girlfriend and looping her arms around Regina’s waist. “And secondly, my parents have basically moved out now. They’ve just never gotten around to taking their pictures over to the new place.”

“Can we do it for them?” Regina asked, turning in Emma’s arms and kissing her lips.

“You want to pack up my parents’ pictures now?” Emma said, eyebrow raised. “But I can think of so many other ways to celebrate you finally agreeing to move in with me.”

Regina smirked at the playful, sexy tone of the blonde and kissed her again. This time she felt Emma’s hands slide down to cup her ass and jumped up, wrapping her thighs around Emma’s hips. The blonde supported her with ease, walking the two of them blindly through the apartment until she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“I don’t think a broken neck would be a good start to our new life,” Emma murmured against Regina’s lips as she lowered the brunette onto the bottom step and laced their fingers together.

They climbed up to Emma’s attic bedroom in silence, neither one of them making a move until the door swung shut with a quiet click. Then Regina pulled Emma’s mouth towards her own, hands wrapped around the base of her neck as they kissed furiously. It wasn’t like they hadn’t had sex in Emma’s bedroom before. They had. Many, many times. But this was the first time it was _their_ room and both women wanted it to be special.

So when Regina pushed Emma gently down onto the edge of the bed, the blonde went willingly as opposed to putting up her usual fight for dominance. Both women would get their chance that night. She watched as Regina knelt down and slowly unlaced her boots, prying them from her feet. Her socks were peeled off too before Regina stood once more, leaning down and placing a chaste kiss to Emma’s waiting mouth.

The red leather jacket was pushed down toned arms, fingers trailing back up the now exposed skin before they gathered the blonde curls and pulled Emma’s mouth back towards her. They would never get enough of the other, that much had been obvious since their first night together, so many months before. Regina kissed Emma hard, her tongue seeking entrance at once, heat coiling low in her belly. But she still took her time. She wanted to take her time. Emma’s tank top was tugged over her head and cast aside before deft fingers undid the button of her jeans. Back on her knees, Regina wiggled the tight denim down her legs, tugging them over her heels and discarding them at last. Still on the floor, Regina gazed over the pale body before her, a matching set of black underwear all that was left on her girlfriend.

“Come here,” Emma husked after almost thirty seconds. Her skin was burning under the intensity of Regina’s lustful look and she couldn’t wait any longer to feel those slender fingers on her body. Regina stood and quickly shucked off her jacket, blouse and slacks, batting Emma’s hands away as she reached out to help. Once she too was only wearing her bra and panties, Regina straddled Emma, knees beside her hips and her ass resting on toned thighs.

Emma wrapped her arms around Regina at once, pulling their chests together. Regina was still a little higher than the blonde and used her advantage to control their next kiss, sloppier and more erratic than before as the heat between them rose. With a nudge from Regina, Emma fell backwards with Regina on top of her, their mouths never separating. Emma’s fingers unclasped Regina’s bra and the brunette didn’t protest but tugged the loose material out from between their bodies before shedding Emma of hers too. Their bare breasts pressed together, nipples erect and sensitive as they rubbed against smooth flesh. It didn’t take long for Regina to need more and soon she pulled back slightly, reaching up between their bodies to palm Emma’s right breast. The blonde arched into the contact.

Tweaking a nipple between her fingers, Regina moved her mouth to Emma’s strong jawline, trailing her lips along it until she reached the lobe of her ear which she sucked, briefly, before her tongue traced the delicate shell above. Emma moaned in delight, her body shuddering with the teasing pleasure. She rocked her hips upwards, pressing her pelvis against Regina’s and pulling a tiny mewl from the lips now breathing hotly into her ear.

“Regina, I need you,” Emma gasped, her clit throbbing with desire for the woman straddling her.

And Regina could never deny a plea like that. So she raised herself up onto her knees and allowed her hand to slide down Emma’s flat abdomen and dip beneath the elastic of her panties. Emma cried out as soon as two fingers circled her clit. She was immensely glad her parents and Henry had gone on a camping trip for the weekend because there was no way she was going to be able to keep it quiet. Regina didn’t want her too either, and she hummed her approval at the blonde’s vocality as she slid her fingers lower, the digits becoming slick with Emma’s arousal as she reached the entrance to the younger woman’s core and pressed lightly against it.

“Gina,” Emma whined, unable to deal with the teasing.

Regina couldn’t either. She needed to feel her girlfriend. Two fingers slid easily inside, Emma’s body relaxing to welcome them, her velvet walls rippling with pleasure. Regina buried her face against Emma’s neck and sighed in delight at the feeling. Emma wrapped her arms around Regina’s back again and placed a kiss to her hairline.

“I love you,” the blonde murmured.

“I love you too,” came the mumbled response.

The fingers began to move. Pumping slowly, steadily, firmly. Emma’s hips met them thrust for thrust, perfectly in sync with the woman who was playing her body like a fiddle. Regina’s long fingers reached deep inside her, the tips grazing over the spot which made her quake with pleasure. They curled as she pulled out, stroking her ridged walls before thrusting back in. Her palm was pressed against her clit, a constant, relentless pressure which wasn’t enough to push Emma over the edge but without which she wouldn’t make it. Regina knew all this. She had learnt it through the months they had spent together, studying the blonde’s reaction to each and every move she made. And now, in that moment, everything was perfect.

So when the blonde came, with Regina’s name on her lips and three fingers poised deep inside her and the heel of Regina’s hand pressed hard against her clit, the brunette smiled in satisfaction, her heart swelling with love for the woman who collapsed back onto the bed, her quivering walls still holding her fingers tightly inside her.

When at last she could pull her hand free, Regina waited until green eyes opened again and slowly licked the come from her fingers, Emma’s eyes hooded with arousal as they watched the pink tongue cleaning her own essence from Regina’s skin.

The brunette squealed as she found herself on her back, Emma having flipped them and pressed the older woman into the mattress, her hands held on either side of her head. She raised an eyebrow at the cocky blonde before smirking. She supposed it was time Emma had her fun. She moaned into the hard kiss Emma pressed against her mouth before the contact was lost, Emma wriggling her way down the bed, fingers removing her lace panties quickly and hands splayed against her inner thighs, pushing them further apart.

Exposed, glistening, dark pink folds greeted Emma, her mouth watering at the sight. She spread the labia wide with her fingers before dipping down to taste the brunette’s unique, spicy juices. Regina shuddered as the tip of Emma’s tongue ran from her entrance up to her clit where it circled, hot and tight. Fingers tangled through blonde curls, pulling the willing mouth closer. Emma nestled between the quivering thighs, sealing her lips around Regina’s clit and sucking. Regina cried out, her hips canting upwards desperately. Emma sucked harder, her tongue flickering over the hard bundle of nerves just as her fingers drifted to press at Regina’s entrance. Regina gasped, fingers tightening in Emma’s hair, as she felt the blonde enter her. Deep, slow, powerful strokes, building her steadily towards her climax. Regina rocked forwards, her body trembling with desire as Emma thrust into her, her hot mouth still working against her tender clit. It didn’t take long.

With Emma’s fingers buried deep in her cunt, her clit trapped between gentle teeth and a tongue fluttering relentlessly over it, Regina came. She thrashed on the bed, her body overcome with pleasure as Emma continued to work her, coaxing every last drop of delight from her girlfriend. Only when Regina’s fingers relaxed in her hair did she pull away, licking her lips and placing a gentle kiss to Regina’s aching clit. She crawled back up the spent body and lay beside it, her arms encircling her girlfriend and pulling her close. Regina, with her eyes closed, turned to Emma and kissed her, soft and tender.

“Welcome home,” Emma whispered.


	10. 5.14 - Devil's Due

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: SwanQueen friendship and feels for you all.

“Do it,” Emma said, closing her eyes.

Regina nodded slightly and stepped forwards, hand outstretched. Summoning her newly returned magic, she plunged her arm towards Emma’s chest. Magic crackled through the air, forcing Regina backwards. Everyone in the room flinched and Emma’s eyes shot open.

“What just happened?” she asked, her chest aching as if she had been punched. 

The brunette didn’t answer. She stared between her tingling fingers, Emma’s chest and then her face. The familiar green eyes looked back at her, confused, scared, and trusting. The older woman turned at once and fled the house. 

Rushing down the steps, Regina reached the street and turned right, out of town and towards the woods. She heard someone following her and knew exactly who it would be. But she didn’t look back. She just kept walking, faster and faster. Soon she reached the forest, identical to the one in Storybrooke but just a little eerier, a little darker. Ignoring the sense of foreboding, she entered. Her follower did too. 

It wasn’t until Regina reached the old well, its counterpart the place Henry had tried to blow up magic and where she herself had consumed a curse to save Emma, that she stopped. She rested both her hands on the familiar, cool stone and leaned forwards, head bowed. 

“What’s wrong?”

Emma hopped up onto the lip of the well besides Regina and waited for her answer, knowing her friend knew exactly what had gone wrong back in her underworld house. Regina always knew when it came to magic. That was why Emma loved learning from her even if she wasn’t the most patient of teachers. It took several minutes however for Regina to finally raise her head and meet those green eyes again. 

“It’s not going to work,” Regina said quietly. “At least, not if I’m the one pulling your heart from your chest.”

“Who else would do it?” Emma frowned. “And why not?”

“I don’t know who else could try. Rumple?” Regina suggested.

“I don’t trust him,” Emma said simply. “And you didn’t tell me why it didn’t work. And why you freaked out back there.”

“I didn’t freak out,” Regina snapped. 

Emma just raised an eyebrow and looked around the gloomy clearing they had both found themselves in. Regina huffed her annoyance and turned around. Emma thought for a moment she was going to storm off again but Regina just braced her hands against the stone and jumped up so she was sat besides Emma, their legs dangling against the mossy wall of the well.

“Your parents put a protection spell on you,” Regina replied. “Back in Storybrooke, when you and I were … not getting along. I’d forgotten about it completely, since the desire to kill you is certainly much rarer these days.”

“Thanks,” Emma deadpanned.

“Anyway,” Regina sighed. “Yeah, I can’t touch your heart. So if you still want to split it and save Hook, you’re going to have to find another person to do so.”

Emma sighed deeply. What Regina had told her made sense. She knew her parents had arranged her protection back when Regina was still the Evil Queen. Or at least Storybrooke’s modern world equivalent. But she too had completely forgotten about its existence.

“Why did you run off?” Emma asked. “Instead of just telling everyone why it didn’t work?”

Regina squirmed uncomfortably at that. She hated talking about her feelings, especially with Emma. The blonde somehow seemed to understand her too well, even the things left unsaid. But she also knew Emma wasn’t going to let the subject drop. When there was something upsetting Regina, the young sheriff never rested until the problem was resolved.

“I just hadn’t thought about those years in so long, I suppose,” Regina began. “Being down here, I’m reminded of all the terrible things I did in the Enchanted Forest and I’m trying to face them, take responsibility for them. I want to help those I wronged decades ago move on to a better place and I hope I am able to do so. But I’d forgotten about how I’d wronged you. And your parents, of course. But mostly you, Emma. Because of my stupid, pathetic quest for revenge, I ruined your entire life and tore you away from your parents for twenty-eight years. How am I ever supposed to make up for that? How am I supposed to make it right?”

Emma was surprised to see tears glistening in those deep brown eyes and tangled her fingers in her lap to stop the urge to brush them from Regina’s cheeks as they fell.

“I destroyed their happiness, yes,” Regina continued. “And in my mind at the time they deserved it. But you didn’t. You never did, Emma. You were a tiny, innocent baby and I forced your parents to send you to a different world to escape my curse. And then when you were finally reunited I was still trying to get my revenge. I still didn’t want them to be happy and so they had to protect their daughter from me. And now, because of my anger and rage towards them, because of the threat I presented, I can’t now use my magic for good. I can’t help you save Killian, Emma.”

Regina swiped angrily at the tears streaking her cheeks and looked away from her friend, embarrassed at how she had broken down. It wasn’t until Emma’s hand landed gently on her thigh that she turned back, reluctantly meeting the blonde’s eyes.

“I don’t blame you, you know,” Emma said softly. “You’re not the reason I had a crappy childhood, Regina. Not solely. And if I hadn’t had those bad experiences, I would never have run away from my foster home, I would never have met Neal, and we wouldn’t have Henry. So yes, you might regret the time you spent trying to get your revenge, but never regret what ultimately became of it. Our son.”

“But you didn’t have parents,” Regina said. “You were alone, Emma. For too long.”

“And now I’m not alone, am I?” Emma replied. “I have Henry, and my parents. I have you and Hook. Well, hopefully I have Hook.”

“If we can’t get your heart out to perform the split, then I’m afraid you won’t,” Regina said.

Emma turned back to stare into the dark forest, trying to come up with a solution. Regina did too, her eyes scanning the horizon for nothing in particular.

“Who put this protective spell on me?” Emma asked after a while.

“No idea, why?” Regina said.

“Well, if you can put a spell on something or someone, surely you can remove them too, right?” Emma said, trying to remember whether she and Regina had covered that during their lessons so far.

“In theory,” Regina said slowly. “But that will only work if the person who put the spell on you is in this realm. And the only people who had magic in Storybrooke at that time were Mr Gold and the Blue Fairy. Although I know your parents hate making deals with Gold, I suspect he’s the only one of them strong enough to create such a protective, enduring boundary.”

Emma smiled widely. “So all we have to do is go back to Gold, get him to remove the spell, and voila. Heart-split time.”

Regina smiled wryly. “You make it sound so easy,” she said.

“It will be,” Emma grinned, jumping from the well edge and holding out her hand to help Regina down too. “Come on, let’s go and break my heart to save my True Love. Geez, if you told me five years ago that sentence would come out of my mouth I’d have said you were crazy!”

Regina shook her head in mild disbelief at Emma’s never ending optimism and ability to make her laugh. Together, they headed out of the forest and back towards the house where the rest of their rescue party was waiting for them.


	11. 5.15 - The Brothers Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is the sort of line I like to work with! Sadly I could only set up for the potential of SwanQueen in the future but I hope you like the conversation between our lovely ladies.

Regina scoffed. “To be honest you’re too good for Hook.”

Emma’s eyebrows raised.

“Excuse me?”

Regina bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to say that. Not now, not here. She glanced around. No one was paying them any attention, well, except for the blind witch. Regina could see her ears practically vibrating in their direction, her hearing heightened since her eyes were no longer functioning. 

“Regina,” Emma said, pulling the brunette from her reverie. “What is that supposed to mean?”

The brunette sighed and swung her legs around, sliding from the stool. If they were going to have this conversation, she was going to find somewhere far less public for the inevitable row which was about to ensue. Emma followed her without question, almost as if she too could sense what was about to happen. They walked in silence, side by side, down the street. Without saying anything, both women knew where they were heading.

The house Emma had claimed when she was the Dark One was a beautiful building, set back from the coast with a stunning view of the sea. It was also empty, everyone else having chosen to spend the afternoon at Snow and Charming’s apartment trying to work out where the storybook could be hidden rather than accompany the two women to the diner. Regina stood back as Emma slid her key into the lock and then nodded her thanks as she led the way into the home.

There was no food in the Underworld, feelings like hunger and thirst didn’t even exist, so Emma and Regina moved straight through to the living room and took seats at either end of the long couch.

“So,” Emma said when she sat down. “Why am I too good for Hook? Or, I suppose, why is Hook not good enough for me?”

Regina sighed. They were not wasting any time, she supposed.

“I just think you deserve someone a little more … special. Interesting I suppose,” she shrugged. “I mean, I get the whole rugged-handsomeness although the guy-liner is just vile. And I can see the attraction of a bad-boy. But he's dull, Emma. I mean, what do you guys even talk about?”

There was a heavy pause. Regina held her breath, wondering if she had ruined her friendship with Emma forever. The blonde seemed to be thinking hard, trying to work out how to respond to the biting comments about her boyfriend.

“We don’t talk that much, to be honest,” Emma replied eventually with a heavy sigh. “We’re usually too busy saving Storybrooke or some other realm, remember?”

Surprised, Regina hesitated for a moment before asking her next question. Emma had been far more open and honest with her than she’d expected. And far more negative for someone who had led their entire family down to the Underworld to save their so called true love.

“And what happens when things finally settle down and become normal?” Regina said. “Are you going to be happy with him? For the rest of your life?”

“I … don’t know,” Emma admitted.

“Then I think you do know,” Regina said softly. “That’s the thing about True Love, Emma. It’s so blindingly obvious that there’s no mistaking it for any other lukewarm affection. It’s all consuming, totally uncontrollable and completely addictive.”

“Sounds like you experienced it yourself,” Emma noted.

“Once.”

“Daniel?”

Regina nodded and turned away from her friend to look out of the window and over the sea, tinged red in the Underworld but still beautiful.

“So why are you with Robin?”

Regina had expected the question. Why wouldn't Emma probe after she had revealed she wasn’t in love with her boyfriend either. She didn’t say anything though, she shook her head and offered the blonde a sad smile. How had this happened to them? Two capable, intelligent, beautiful, strong young women. How had they ended up with men who were, frankly, not worthy.

“They’ve both good guys,” Emma said after a while. “Just … not the men we want.”

“Yes,” Regina nodded. “That sounds about right.”

They fell silent again, each lost in their own thoughts. It was Regina who spoke next.

“Why did you follow Hook down here if he isn’t your True Love?”

Emma curled up on her end of the couch, hugging her knees to her chest in a childlike way. Regina thought it was rather endearing.

“Because I’m the reason he’s here,” she said after a moment. “I’m the one who put the darkness into him in the first place. I’m the person who put him in the position where he was taken over by the darkness again. And I’m the person he sacrificed his life for. He shouldn’t die for someone who doesn’t truly love him. He deserves better than that.”

“So you’re going to somehow save him, bring him back to Storybrooke and then, what, dump him?”

Emma flushed. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“Me neither,” Regina said.

“You want to end things with Robin?”

The brunette nodded. “I never wanted to get back together with him, not really. He chose Marian over me and left town. I didn’t go to New York to get him back, just to save him from Zelena and her insane plan. It was only after I learnt of her pregnancy and Robin and I talked that we decided to give things another go. I don’t know why I agreed, to be honest. I knew it wasn’t going to work out between us. And now there’s Roland and this new baby to consider, as well as Henry. It’s all such a mess.”

They were quiet once more, both women thinking now of the other’s relationship rather than their own. Emma had always sensed something wasn’t quite right between Regina and Robin but had dismissed her misgivings, putting them down to the fact that she just didn’t like Robin. And Regina, well, Regina had known since the start Emma and Hook’s relationship was going to fall apart eventually. How could it not, with Hook being so completely dull and Emma being so vibrant and exciting and -

“We should do it together.”

Emma’s words interrupted Regina’s thoughts and she snapped her gaze back towards Emma, eyes wide and cheeks a little flushed.

“We should do what together?” she asked, heart beat quickening beneath her chest.

“Break up with them,” Emma said. “I mean, not in a double date way, but we should both do it and then support each other through the inevitable problems afterwards.”

“Oh,” Regina said, the blood pounding in her ears lessening slightly. “Yeah ok.”

“Really?” Emma said, surprised. “I’d have thought I would have had to persuade you much harder to get you to do this.”

Regina shrugged. “When it’s not right, what’s the point in spending more time with the person? Life is too short to be with someone you don’t love. I’ve wasted too many tears over a man who I know isn’t really the one so yes, I’ll end it.”

Emma hesitated and then smiled widely. “Great,” she said. “We’ll do it as soon as we get back from the Underworld.”

“Just the small matter of climbing out of hell,” Regina said with a dry chuckle. “And back to a land with literally no eligible partners.”

“What makes you say that?” Emma asked.

“Ok, name three young, attractive, single people in Storybrooke,” Regina said, folding her arms and looking at Emma with a challenging glint in her eye.

Emma bit her lip. “Um … oh, what about Hansel and Gretel’s father?”

Regina wrinkled her nose. 

“Ok, there’s the guy who works in the auto-repair shop with him at weekends. He’s cute.”

“He’s seventeen,” Regina remarked.

“Oops,” Emma said. “Erm, Tink?”

“As in Tinkerbell?” Regina asked.

“Is there another Tink?” Regina shook her head dumbly. “Then yes, that Tink. She’s single. Although I suspect Hook will set her sights on her once we break up.”

“And if he didn’t, you’d date her?” Regina said slowly.

“She’s hot,” Emma shrugged.

Regina’s brain seemed to short circuit and she tried to process the information that Emma was into women. She had suspected for a while that Emma appreciated the female form. After all, she had caught the blonde staring unabashedly at her own figure more than a few times over the past few years. But here it was; actual proof that Emma would not be opposed to a relationship with a woman.

“Well,” Regina said, her voice a little scratchy in her suddenly dry throat. “I suppose you’d better add two more names to that list of eligible singletons then.”

“Who?” Emma asked.

“Me and you.”


	12. 5.16 - Our Decay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: please imagine Emma and Regina are alone when Henry storms off after they’re discussing the book in this episode.

“Well, we officially have a teenager on our hands,” Emma said as Henry’s large feet thudded heavily up the stairs, along the corridor, and then his bedroom door slammed shut.

“He gets it from you,” Regina said at once.

“What?” Emma exclaimed with a bark of laughter. “Yeah, right. Like you weren’t a prissy little princess when you were a teenager.”

Regina narrowed her eyes. “Of course I wasn’t,” she said. “I was brought up far better than that.”

“Oh come on,” Emma chuckled. “Being a teenager is nothing to do with how you’re brought up. It’s in every teenager’s DNA to be a moody, grumpy, generally annoying person for a few years. Even future queens.”

“Well clearly you didn’t get the memo about that behaviour ending when you become an adult.”

“Ouch,” Emma said, clutching her chest in mock agony. “Believe me, if you think I’m moody now, you should have met me when I was sixteen.”

“So maybe I did your parents a favour by casting the curse,” Regina quipped. “Saved them years of grief.

Emma’s face fell at once. Regina gasped when she realised what she had said.

“Emma, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

The blonde shook her head and walked over to the kitchen island where the newly written pages were still lying. She picked them up and seemed to be examining them carefully but Regina knew she was just avoiding looking at the older woman.

“Emma, I’m sorry,” Regina repeated. “I’m sure your parents would give anything to have endured your teenage years. I know I stole time away from your family and I’ll forever be sorry for that.”

“I know,” Emma said, not looking up.

Regina walked over to stand beside Emma, peering over her shoulder at the page. It depicted Snow and Charming in the Underworld version of Granny’s, the familiar script accompanying the drawing.

“They’d have loved you regardless of what you did, you know. We’d love Henry even if he went on a killing spree, wouldn’t we?”

“I highly doubt he’s going to do that,” Emma pointed out. “Especially in the Underworld. I mean, they’re already dead.”

“You know what I’m saying,” Regina said. “Your parents loved you for twenty-eight years, Emma. They might not have been truly aware of it but even the curse couldn’t fully erase their feelings for you. That love, that maternal and paternal love for you, it was always there. And since they’ve found you, I’m sure you’ve all been making up for lost time. Stolen time, I suppose.”

“Regina, stop,” Emma said, turning towards the brunette. “You didn’t steal time from us.”

“But I did,” Regina said. “I cast that curse, I made your parents put you in that cupboard.”

“Regina, it’s not your fault,” Emma said, more firmly. “Yes you cast that curse but you didn’t force my parents to put me in a magical tree. I know why they did it and I don’t blame them for the first years of my life. I don’t blame you either, by the way. It wasn’t the greatest start but it worked out alright, didn’t it? Plus they really were saved some grief by missing out on my horror years.”

“How bad were you?” Regina asked.

“Awful,” Emma said simply. “I got kicked out of six foster homes in two years. Smoking, drinking, drugs, shoplifting. I got caught having sex with a guy in my foster parents bed once. That was particularly bad.”

Regina raised her eyebrows. Nothing like that had ever happened with Henry nor any child in Storybrooke. And of course the Enchanted Forest also had only limited ways to rebel.

“Wow,” Regina said. “Let’s hope Henry doesn’t pick up any of those habits.”

“I’m sure he won’t,” Emma reassured. “I mean, he’s not stupid enough to start smoking and we give him more than enough pocket money so he has no need to shoplift. And I’d hope he’s too young to drink or do drugs just yet. Plus I don’t think there’s anyone dealing in Storybrooke any more, anyway.”

“Any more?” Regina repeated. “We had a resident drug dealer.”

Emma nodded. “Yeah but we found out and he scarpered before we could arrest him.”

“Who?”

“Will Scarlet,” Emma said. “Hadn’t you wondered why he hasn’t been around lately?”

It was only when Emma mentioned Robin’s friend that Regina realised she hadn’t seen him in a while. Clearly the man hadn’t made much of an impression on her when he had been in town. And since he had turned out to be a drug dealer, Regina couldn’t say he was going to be missed.

“Hang on,” Regina said suddenly. “You did drugs?”

Emma blushed and Regina wondered if she had sounded too judgemental. After all, it wasn’t as if Emma had had good role models when she was growing up. It was unsurprising to learn she had made some bad choices.

“I smoked pot a lot,” Emma shrugged. “Tried a few other things but didn’t really like them. Plus they’re expensive. I couldn’t afford a habit like cocaine or meth.”

Regina didn’t know how to answer that so she said nothing. Emma too was silent, thinking back to her teenage years and all the dumb things she did. She really hoped Henry wouldn’t make the same mistakes. She doubted it. After all, he had been brought up impeccably by Regina and Emma hoped her own entrance into his life a few years before had also been a good influence.

“Should we go up to talk to him?” Regina asked.

“No,” Emma said at once. “He wants to be alone. Trust me, you don’t want to poke the bear.”

“What happened when the teenage Emma bear was poked?” Regina asked.

“I threw my alarm clock at a foster father once,” Emma recalled. “I’d been asked to do the dishes and stormed off in refusal. When he came to find me, I grabbed the first thing I could reach and lobbed it across the room. It hit him in the shoulder, I think. They didn’t send me away though. It was only after they caught me siphoning gas out of their car to sell to my friends that I moved on.”

“Oh … wow,” Regina said. “Imaginative.”

“I needed the cash,” Emma replied.

There was a long pause before Regina spoke.

“I borrowed my mother’s sapphire necklace to wear to a ball without asking her when I was fifteen. She found out and locked me in my bedroom for a week. I didn’t do anything else which could possibly get me in trouble after that.”

“Except date Daniel,” Emma pointed out.

Regina’s lips quirked slightly at the realisation. “Yes, except being with Daniel. He was worth the risk.”

Emma reached over and squeezed Regina’s hand. She knew her friend had gone to search for Daniel’s grave and discovered he had moved on. The fact that the gravestone had been knocked over was a good thing, of course. It meant Daniel was in a better place. But it also meant Regina didn’t get the opportunity to speak to him again and she knew deep down the brunette would have loved to have done so.

“I never told you that I kinda had a vision or a meeting or, I don’t know, something, with Neal on our way to the Underworld,” Emma said.

“What?” Regina frowned. “Neal’s here?”

“No,” Emma replied. “He’s in a better place too. Like Daniel. But the point is he knew I was coming down here. He could see me, and Henry. The people we love, they’re watching over us, Regina. They’re still a part of our lives, even if they’re not in the same place. I’m sure Daniel’s watching over you right now, from wherever he is.”

Regina smiled sadly. “I hope so.”

Emma opened her mouth to speak but just then they heard footsteps from above, the unmistakable heavy gait of their son. Seconds later, Henry appeared in the kitchen. 

“I’m hungry,” he mumbled. “We got any food?”

Regina and Emma exchanged sideways glances before Regina moved towards the fridge and began to pull out ingredients for lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: drugs/drinking/shoplifting/smoking is bad, kids. And don’t have legal-age sex in your parents bed, that’s gross!


	13. 5.17 - Her Handsome Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: sorry for the delay! Life got busy.

“Well, you dreamt it, it’s not like it will happen,” Regina rationalised. “Maybe this dream isn’t just about the monster. It’s about you, working out some issues.”

Emma balked. 

“Issues?”

Regina just raised her eyebrows pointedly. Emma glanced between the brunette and Hook who was looking curiously at her. She snapped her gaze back to Regina.

“Now’s not the time.”

“Well when is then?” Regina huffed. “Seriously, Emma, this has gone on long enough and I’m tired of hiding. Please, just tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Snow said, frowning. Hook said nothing, he just stared at Emma.

The saviour glowered at Regina who looked stoically back at her. She sighed and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. She knew this day was going to come eventually. But she thought they had agreed to wait until they were back in Storybrooke and life was normal again. Well, as normal as it ever got in the magical town.

“Erm, Regina and I kinda discovered something,” Emma said after a moment.

“What?” Hook asked, his voice low. He had never liked the former Queen, not in Storybrooke anyway, and already knew this conversation was not going to be favourable to him.

Emma shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, avoiding the piercing blue eyes before her. She hadn’t wanted to tell him like this, especially not in front of Snow. And Regina. It seemed to be rubbing salt in the wound.

“Emma, what’s going on?” Hook asked, walking over to the blonde and taking her hands. Regina flinched but stopped herself from moving forwards. Eventually, Emma looked up.

“We’re True Loves.”

The vault was silent, the cold, damp air seemed to freeze momentarily. Snow’s jaw dropped. A muscle in Hook’s cheek twitched. Regina twiddled her fingers, waiting.

“Excuse me?” Hook said, taking a step back from the blonde. “True Loves? As in you and Regina love each other?”

Emma glanced at Regina, silently pleading for her help in explaining. The brunette smiled slightly and walked over to stand beside Emma. She resisted the urge to put her arm around Emma’s waist and instead clasped her hands behind her back. Killian’s eyes narrowed. Snow’s widened.

“Our magic performs differently together than normal magical beings,” Regina explained. “For years I’ve known we were connected and every time we did magic side by side, I felt something inside me. Emma was feeling it too although she didn’t understand it. And it wasn’t until we were in Camelot and Emma’s magical knowledge as the Dark One allowed her to recognise what it is that’s between us that we talked about it.”

“Talked about what?” Hook asked, taking another step away from Emma.

Emma reached for Regina’s hand and intertwined her fingers. Regina forced herself not to smile too widely at the gesture.

“Killian, I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I didn’t know. If I had, I would never have started our relationship.”

“What are you saying?” Hook spluttered. “You’re leaving me? For her?”

Regina had the good grace to look guilty. She had never wanted to split up the couple. Well, she had wanted Emma, of course. But she didn’t want anyone to get hurt in the process.

“Kil, I can’t help it,” Emma said. “It’s True Love. We just … feel. It’s not something either of us planned but we can’t ignore it now we know. And it wasn’t fair to you to keep on pretending. I was going to wait until we got back to Storybrooke, admittedly, but I guess there was never going to be a good time.”

“But you came to the Underworld to save me,” Hook frowned. “Why do that if you didn’t love me.”

“I do love you,” Emma said at once. Regina’s fingers slipped from her grasp but Emma ignored that fact. “I do love you, Killian. But it’s not True Love. It’s not as strong and, honestly, it’s fading. But I don’t want you to be stuck in hell for all eternity. I had a chance to save you and I wanted to take it. Regina was supportive in that, it’s why she’s here. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, Killian, and we are going to do everything we can to get you back to Storybrooke.”

Killian looked between the two women, his eyes dark. Then he turned on his heels and walked quickly from the room without another word. Regina reached for Emma’s hand again and turned towards her.

“You ok?” she asked quietly, seeing the angst on Emma’s face.

The blonde shook her head. “We shouldn’t have told him like that,” she said. “I asked you to wait.”

She pulled away from Regina and walked over to the far side of the vault, her back to the room. The brunette looked crestfallen.

“Um, so what’s happening?”

Both Emma and Regina jumped. They had forgotten Snow was even there with them. Emma turned around and smiled shyly at her mother.

“I guess I finally understand what you and Dad share,” she said with a small shrug.

Snow hesitated and then rushed to her daughter, enveloping her in a tight hug. Emma stood frozen for a moment before hugging her back, relief washing over her. Regina too, let out a long breath.

“I’m so happy for you,” Snow said. “I knew something was different with you. Both of you,” she added, turning to Regina and holding out her hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Regina crossed the room and took it. “I could tell something had changed between you two. David even said you looked like you were in love, Emma. But we assumed it was Killian.”

“Are you sad it isn’t?” Emma asked.

“No,” came Snow’s instant reply. “No, not at all. You two are perfect for each other. And that’s something I didn’t think I’d be saying a few years ago but you really are. I’ve never known two people more suited to one another. I’ll admit I never entertained the idea of the two of you being … together,” Emma blushed, “but now I know you’re True Loves, it makes complete sense.”

Emma and Regina grinned at each other. Because it did make sense. After everything they had been through, everything which had happened between them, it seemed only logical for their friendship to have developed into something so much more meaningful and powerful. True Love.

“I’ll go and check on Hook,” Snow said, sensing that the two women wanted to be alone.

“Thanks,” Emma said, not taking her eyes from Regina’s.

Snow left without another word. The two women didn’t say anything until the sound of Snow’s feet faded and the heavy vault door clanged shut upstairs. 

“I love you,” Regina blurted out.

Emma chuckled. “Oh, you’d better. I just ended my relationship in front of my mother and my True Love so it would be pretty awkward if you didn’t.”

Regina rolled her eyes and stepped towards Emma, looping her arms around Emma’s waist. In turn, Emma draped her arms over Regina’s shoulders. They hadn’t been alone together for more than a few seconds ever since they arrived in the Underworld and both women were realising how much they had missed the chance to be physically intimate.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t wait,” Regina said. “I know you wanted to tell him on your own.”

“It’s ok,” Emma said. “I mean, it wasn’t ideal but I get it. I was frustrated too. We’ve been hiding for too long.”

“But not any more,” Regina said, leaning forwards an placing a kiss to Emma’s lips. “We don’t have to hide anything any more.”

Emma grinned and kissed Regina again, their lips melding easily against one another. Regina sighed contentedly into the contact, her fingers digging into the small of Emma’s back. She felt the tip of Emma’s tongue trace the seam of her lips and she opened willingly, welcoming the hot muscle into her mouth.

Regina began to walk them backwards until Emma was pressed against the cold stone of the vault wall. Emma’s fingers slid into her hair, angling her face backwards as she deepened the kiss, Regina groaned as teeth nibbled her lip and she rocked her hips forwards against Emma’s. A thigh slid between her own and Regina gratefully leaned against it, applying just the right amount of pressure to her sex through her pants. She shuddered in delight, wanting, needing more and then -

“Wait.”

Emma pulled back at once, eyes hooded with lust and her breathing ragged. She left her thigh where it was though and Regina made no move away either.

“We can’t,” Regina said. “Not here, not yet.”

Emma let out a long sigh and nodded, stepping back.

“I want to,” Regina rushed to assure the blonde. “God, I want to Emma. But you just told Hook ten minutes ago, and we’re in my vault, and in the Underworld and it just doesn’t seem like the right time. I mean, it should be special right?”

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry,” Emma said, rubbing her lips with the back of her hand to remove any traces of Regina’s lipstick. “We should wait until we get back to Storybrooke.”

“I wish we were going back right now,” Regina remarked.

Emma chuckled. “Me too.”

They smiled at each other for a moment before Regina stepped forwards to place a chaste kiss to Emma’s swollen lips.

“I love you,” Regina said.

“I love you too,” Emma replied.

It amazed both women how easily the words came to them. It had been weeks since they discovered their True Love connection and ever since then their relationship had become so … natural. It was like they had always been together. Ok, so they hadn’t had sex yet; neither woman had wanted to do that before Hook had been told. But they hadn’t been able to stop the kisses. They were … irresistible, intoxicating, perfect. 

So Emma stole one more just before they reached the doorway of Regina’s vault, their lips brushing softly together before they broke apart and stepped out into the gloomy red world beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I couldn’t shoehorn sex in here, sorry! But you guys are gonna love what I do for the next chapter. 100% smut!


	14. 5.18 - Ruby Slippers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: firstly, yes, I completely took this line out of context. Secondly, I regret nothing. This is 100% smut. Definitely NSFW.

“I’m coming!” Regina screamed, her fingernails digging into Emma’s scalp. 

The tongue between her legs was unrelenting, lapping at her wet cunt as she crested. Her body shook with tremors as Emma’s mouth sealed around her tender clit, drawing even more pleasure from her before she stopped at last. When her eyes blinked blearily open, she saw Emma still lying between her thighs, chin glistening with juices and a smug look on her face.

“Come here,” Regina husked, reaching for her girlfriend and sighing with contentment when Emma crawled up and lay down upon her spent body.

It was cold in the Underworld. Permanently. So Emma reached for the discarded blankets and draped them over both bodies before kissing Regina softly. The brunette hummed as she felt Emma’s tongue grazing against her lips, asking for entrance. She granted it at once, tasting her own come on Emma’s mouth as their tongues met.

“We should get back,” Emma murmured after a while. “They’ll notice we’re missing soon.”

“Ten more minutes?” Regina asked, bending her knee as she did so and sliding her thigh up until it pressed against Emma’s wet core.

The blonde shuddered, white teeth digging into her pale lip. Regina smirked. She knew the blonde wasn’t able to resist her. So she gently rolled them over so Emma lay beneath her, green eyes hooded with arousal even after the two hours they had already spent in bed together. Their passion for each other appeared to be insatiable. Regina placed a chaste kiss to Emma’s lips before she began to trail them down the blonde’s body. A reddened mark was already blooming on her collarbone where Regina had suckled earlier so she bypassed the area and moved to Emma’s breasts. Her nipples hardened against the chilly air which rushed over them as Regina dragged the duvet away and Emma cried out as one was enveloped by the hot heat of Regina’s mouth.

Flicking the hard little bud with her tongue, Regina trapped the nipple between her teeth very gently, her lips sealing around the puckered skin. Fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her closer as a moan of delight vibrated through Emma’s chest. As she continued to tease each breast, Regina reached her hand down to the tender folds at the apex of Emma’s thighs. The skin was slick with her essence from earlier orgasms, her muscles relaxed and pliant, allowing Regina to easily slide two fingers into the velvety channel. Emma bucked into the contact, her body already craving another release.

“Gina,” she whimpered as Regina began to pump, slow and steady.

There was no need to ask what Emma needed. Regina knew. Regina always knew. A third finger joined the first two, lips still suckling at a tender breast, and the pumps began stronger, reaching deeper. Emma widened her stance, spreading herself open for her girlfriend and surrendering to the pleasure building inside her.

As Regina slipped a forth finger into Emma, her own desire to see the blonde stretching open for her became overwhelming and she abandoned Emma’s breasts, both shimmering with saliva and each nipple painfully hard. She shimmied down the bed, her body welcomed into the cradle of Emma’s thighs with a gasp of “yes” from the blonde. She regarded the pink folds for a moment, wrapped closely around the four fingers now sliding in and out of Emma’s entrance. And then she lowered her lips to Emma’s strained clit and sucked. 

The scream echoed off the walls, Emma’s back arching off the bed as she came, Regina continued to pump, her fingers sliding effortlessly into the tight channel coated in juices. Her mouth covered Emma’s clit, the tongue laving delicate circles around it to prolong Emma’s pleasure. When the blonde lay back on the bed, breathing hard, Regina began to pull her fingers free.

“Not yet,” came the breathy response.

“What?” Regina asked, detaching herself from Emma’s cunt and looking up the flushed, panting body.

“Stay inside me,” Emma replied, her voice hoarse.

Regina nodded her understanding and pushed her hand back into the relaxing channel. She cocked her head to one side as she looked at the area where half her hand disappeared into her girlfriend’s body. Her own core clenched at the erotic sight.

“Regina?” Emma said, pulling the brunette back to the present. “Do you want to try?”

Two perfectly plucked eyebrows raised. They’d discussed the possibility of attempting to fit their whole hand inside each other but were yet to do so. Emma admitted to being a little afraid and Regina, although she found the concept intensely arousing, thought the term fisting was crass.

“Are you sure?” Regina breathed.

Emma nodded mutely and rocked her hips slightly. Regina smiled and placed a soft kiss to the inside of each of Emma’s thighs before running her tongue lightly over the blonde’s clit. Emma twitched, her core clenching. Regina’s tongue trailed lower, licking around the seam where her fingers joined Emma’s entrance, tasting the tangy nectar that gathered there. She pumped slowly, twisting her wrist slightly before she tucked her thumb into her palm. Glancing up at Emma, the brunette waited until the other woman nodded before she began to push slowly inside. She watched, enraptured, as Emma’s body stretched to welcome her, the tight walls rippling as the fingers pressed deeper. As her knuckles reached the entrance, Regina felt slight resistance but she kept going, slowly. And then, sudddenly, the rest of her hand slithered inside. Emma cried out, her fingers gripping the sheet.

“You ok?” Regina asked, alarmed.

“Yes!” Emma squeaked. “It’s good. Really good. But … wow.”

Regina held her hand perfectly still, her wrist enveloped in hot, wet velvet. She squeezed her own thighs together as she waited for Emma to become accustomed to the invasion. After a few seconds, the blonde’s hips rocked upwards, encouraging movement.

Regina gently began to wiggle her fingers, stroking the inside of Emma’s channel deeper than ever before. She didn’t need to do much more as Emma convulsed on the bed, her nerve endings on fire at the new and unusual sensation. Regina twisted her wrist slightly so she could put pressure on the front wall, where Emma’s sweet spot was. Emma whimpered in delight. Regina settled her cheek against Emma’s thigh and watched, transfixed, as the muscles of Emma’s stomach rippled in pleasure as her fingers stimulated her deep inside. The blonde was teetering on the edge of an orgasm within seconds and when Regina brought her spare hand around and rubbed tight, hard circles on her clit, she came with a keening wail of pleasure. 

The warm juices flowed over Regina’s fingers, seeping out of Emma’s core as she crested. Not wanting to hurt Emma, Regina pulled her hand free as soon as the muscles relaxed, using the natural lubricant to ease herself backwards almost before the blonde was aware it was happening. Emma lay panting and whimpering as Regina wiped her hand on the sheet and crawled up to collapse beside her. At once, she turned her head and sought out a kiss from the beautiful brunette. Regina obliged in an instant and they shared a sweet, loving moment.

“That was amazing,” Emma murmured, her forehead resting against Regina’s.

“Yeah?” Regina smiled. “Good, because I loved doing it. You’re so beautiful when you’re full of me.”

Emma blushed and ducked her head. She wasn’t sure why she was feeling shy. After all, Regina had just had her entire hand inside her. A finger reached out and tilted her head up so their gazes locked once more.

“I love you,” Regina said. “Thank you for trusting me enough to do that.”

“I trust you with my life,” Emma replied. “And I love you too.”


	15. 5.19 - Sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Imagine a pre-existing relationship between the two women. Because, why not?

“Well there’s only one person we can trust to stop the love blooming between Hades and my sister,” Regina said with a shrug. She looked up and caught Emma’s apprehensive gaze. “Our mother.”

Even though she knew the brunette was about to say it, Emma still winced. She couldn’t think of anything worse than having Cora around again. It was bad enough the first day when they arrived in the Underworld and although she knew the brunette was immensely worried about her mother's fate, she really didn’t want her to show up again.

“Regina, no, please,” Emma said. “There has to be another way.”

Regina shook her head sadly. “There isn’t. My mother is the only person I know who will be able to stop Zelena from seeing Hades.”

Emma glanced around at Hook, her father, and Henry. She didn’t want to have this conversation in front of them. It was something she and Regina needed to discuss in private.

“Um guys, could you please give us a minute? We’ll meet you in Granny’s for dinner.”

Wordlessly, the three men walked from the room. Emma waited until the door snapped shut behind Henry before turning back to Regina who was leaning against the kitchen unit. Emma crossed the room and took Regina’s hands in her own.

“Gina, I know you think Cora will stop Zelena from being with Hades but she’ll also stop us from seeing each other.”

Regina smiled sympathetically. “You don’t know that.”

“I do,” Emma replied. “And so do you. Why else did you not tell her about us last week?”

Regina had to admit her girlfriend had a point. She had deliberately kept her relationship with Emma from her mother when they were reunited in the Underworld. And it wasn’t only because they were busy running around trying to find her father and prevent him being thrown into the fiery depths of hell. No, Regina hadn’t told her mother because Emma was right. The woman would not only disapprove but also actively try to end the relationship. Regina didn't know if it was a compulsion or because Cora really didn’t think anyone was good enough for her daughter. Either way, Regina hadn’t wanted to risk it. What she and Emma had was too precious.

“Emma, we don’t have a choice. We need to destroy whatever’s between Zelena and Hades and we need to do it fast,” she said. “And besides, she might not find out about us. She didn’t before, did she?”

“You were working against her before,” Emma pointed out. “As soon as you and Cora are on the same side, the dynamics change. I don’t blame you. She is your mother after all. But you do become rather … pliable.”

“Pliable?” Regina asked, eyebrow raised.

“You know what I mean,” Emma replied.

“You think I’m weak?”

Emma gulped. Of all the words in the English language to describe her girlfriend, weak was not one of them. Scary, yes, but not weak.

“Regina, let’s just find another way,” Emma pleaded. “If we get her involved then yes she’ll probably be able to end Zelena’s love affair with Hades but she’ll also end us.”

Regina stepped up to the blonde at once and wrapped her arms around Emma’s waist. She held her close and looked up into the sceptical green eyes above her.

“I will never, ever, let that happen,” Regina said quietly. “My mother will never come between us, Emma. No one will ever come between us. I know it hasn’t been easy and we didn’t start our relationship in the most orthodox of ways,” both women briefly remembered the moment they were caught kissing behind Granny’s by their previous respective partners, “but now we’re together, no one but us is going to screw this up.”

“Don’t joke about that,” Emma remarked. “Neither of us have great track records when it comes to relationships.”

Regina chuckled. “I know. But I think that’s a positive. We’ve learnt from our mistakes and we’ve grown as people. Everything that came before, that was just practice for the real thing. You and me, Emma, we’re the real thing. And my mother is not going to destroy that.”

Emma leaned in to kiss Regina softly. Their lips melded perfectly together as they always had done. From the moment they first kissed, over a year ago in Regina’s kitchen, their bodies had been finely attuned to one another. Emma’s lips parted before Regina’s tongue had even brushed across them, welcoming her inside. Emma’s palm grasped Regina’s ass, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh there. Regina moaned into the kiss but then pulled back. Emma frowned at the loss of contact.

“Sorry,” the brunette offered. “But we do need to go. I have to find my mother and get this thing with Zelena and Hades sorted. We don’t have much time.”

“Ok,” Emma nodded. “Can I come with you?”

“Not if you want to keep our relationship quiet, no,” Regina said, reaching up to wipe traces of her own lipstick from Emma’s mouth.

Emma pouted and Regina just laughed. 

“Honey, I love you but you aren’t exactly subtle, are you? I think the phrase puppy dog eyes would be most appropriate.”

“Is that a compliment?” Emma asked, folding her arms.

“It’s adorable,” Regina offered.

“An adorable saviour,” Emma pondered. “Ok, I guess I can live with that. Just, be careful, ok? I know your mother claims to be on your side now but I still don’t think you should trust her. She might be useful for dealing with our Zelena problem but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven her for everything she did to you as a kid.”

“So no family dinners during which I introduce you as my girlfriend then?”

Emma narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “Not funny.”

“It is a little bit,” Regina shrugged.

Emma chuckled. “Go, now please, before I change my mind and keep you here so you can’t go through with this ridiculous plan.”

Those perfect eyebrows rose again. Emma’s core clenched at the sight. She knew that comment was going to get Regina’s back up. It was one of the reasons she had said it; winding up her girlfriend was her favourite hobby.

“Keep me here?” Regina asked. “As if you’re giving me permission to go? Need I remind you, Miss Swan, that I am a former Evil Queen and no one in this realm or indeed one of the living would be able to keep me somewhere against my will.”

“Oh I can assure you, you’d be willing to stay,” Emma replied, reaching behind her and unhooking her sheriff-issue handcuffs from the back of her belt.

Regina swallowed thickly a the sight, her tongue darting out to wet her suddenly dry lips. She could remember the feeling of that cold, unforgiving metal digging deliciously into her wrists from a particularly adventurous sex session weeks before. Emma smirked, knowing exactly what Regina was thinking about. Her own mind was also filled with images; Regina spreadeagled on the bed, her wrists cuffed to the headboard, her legs wide and her wet core exposed to Emma’s eager fingers and mouth.

“I’m leaving right now,” Regina said, her voice shaking slightly. “Because I need to do this and sort out my sister. But when I get back, you can keep me here as long as you like.”

Emma grinned widely and crossed the room to give Regina a final parting kiss.

“I love you,” she said simply.

“I love you too,” Regina replied, before pulling open the door and exiting the apartment, wondering where would be the best place to start the search for her mother.


	16. 5.20 - Firebird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: totally inventing a former relationship with these ladies but hey! It works.

“Well then let’s give him his wish,” Regina said solemnly.

Emma nodded and the two of them turned to face the door. Concentrating hard, they focused on the magic needed to destroy the spell keeping them trapped in the Underworld library. All of a sudden, magic flew through the air, purple and white colliding as it hit the wood and spreading outwards, wearing down the magical barrier. 

Regina glanced sideways at Emma. She could see tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes, her mouth set in a grim line. But she could also see something else. It was too soon, of course, to speculate exactly what the blonde was thinking about having left her boyfriend in an underground dungeon in the Underworld. But Regina thought it might look a bit like … relief? Her fingers sparked and she turned her attention back towards the door. She didn’t notice Emma looking at her, a slight frown on her forehead as the magic between them built and finally the door flew open.

“Come on,” Emma said, beckoning the group to follow her and leading the way out into the deserted street.

After weeks in the Underworld, the reddish sky no longer sent chills down her back, and Emma looked up into the clouds briefly before heading towards the cemetery. They didn’t have much time before the portal closed. She assumed Hades and Zelena would be long gone, with the baby too, but as soon as they were back in Storybrooke, she was confident they were going to defeat the wicked pair. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Regina and the others hurrying along behind her. She sped up a little.

The clock tower came into sight, the hands spinning wildly, a bright light shining out of it as the portal reaching the zenith of its power.

“We need to get through that now,” Regina said, assessing the situation at once and knowing they had seconds before their way back to Storybrooke was sealed forever. 

“Go,” Emma said, standing back and allowing Regina, Henry, and Robin to rush past her. They disappeared. Emma’s heart beat faster and she turned to look back towards the town they were about to leave.

“Emma, we have to go,” came David’s gentle voice from behind her.

Emma turned towards her father and nodded sadly. She took his offered hand and allowed him to lead her to the portal. The power of the magic consumed her body, hairs standing on end as the strength of it overpowered them. With a final glance back to the Underworld, to where Hook was now trapped, Emma tumbled after David into a bright white abyss.

She landed hard on the ground. Groaning slightly, she pushed herself up and looked around. She was in the middle of Main Street, David beside her. On the curb sat Henry and Regina. Robin had presumably already left in search of his daughter. As she watched, Henry and Regina got up and hurried over, each holding out a hand to help her up.

“Mom, are you ok?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine kid,” Emma assured, rubbing her slightly sore head where she had hit it against the road. “Dad, shall we get to the station? We need to start coordinating a search for Hades and Zelena.”

David cocked his head, regarding his daughter. There was a look in her eyes he had never seen before. He couldn’t read it.

“Let’s go and see Snow and Neal first, ok?” he suggested, the desire to see his wife and son suddenly overwhelming. He also doubted Emma was quite up for setting up a town-wide search for two villains so soon after having to say goodbye to her True Love.

But Emma shook her head. “You go,” she replied. “I’ll get started on tracking down Hades.”

She didn’t feel much like being around a couple as sickeningly happy as her parents. Much as she had missed her baby brother and her mother, she didn’t think she could deal with seeing them just yet. Her heart was too fragile.

“I’ll come with you,” Regina said, interrupting Emma’s thoughts. 

Emma turned to look at her friend, eyebrows raised. Regina gave an almost imperceptible shrug before she turned and headed off down the street. Emma’s footsteps echoed behind her within seconds. She knew the blonde would follow. She didn’t turn around however and waited until Emma caught her up, which she did at the corner by Granny’s. They walked side by side, without speaking, for a few minutes. It was Emma who broke the silence.

“Thanks.”

“What for?” Regina asked.

“For knowing I didn’t want to be alone.”

Regina said nothing. She didn’t think there was anything to say. She had remembered how she felt after Daniel had died and although she didn’t want her mother’s company, she had felt an innate need to be around people. Alive people. People whom she loved. She had spent weeks curled up on the couch in her father’s study, not speaking, just being near him. She also knew Emma needed to be distracted, needed to focus on something other than Hook’s fate, and the presence of Hades and Zelena in their quiet town seemed like the perfect project for their saviour.

“He’ll be alright, won’t he?” Emma said as the entered the sheriff’s office. “He’ll move on now, won’t he?”

“I hope so,” Regina replied. And it was true. Although she hadn’t been a fan of the pirate, she didn’t want him to spend the rest of eternity wandering through that red-tinted Underworld. No one deserved that.

“It worked, you know,” Emma said. “When I weighed my heart. We passed the test.”

“You were True Loves?”

Emma nodded. “So it would seem.” 

“You didn’t realise?” Regina asked, taking the seat opposite Emma’s desk as the blonde laid out a map of the town on the desk.

“I was surprised, I guess,” Emma shrugged. “I knew I loved him. I just didn’t know it was True Love. Didn’t think that was really on the cards for me, to be honest.”

“Why not?”

Emma raised her eyes at last to look at Regina. The brunette smiled encouragingly at her, knowing Emma needed to vocalise what was rushing through her mind at that moment. Talking about emotions was not the blonde’s strong point but both women knew things needed to be said.

“Love never works out for me,” Emma said after a while. “Neal, Lily, Graham … you. Nothing ever lasted. I guess I was just waiting for Hook and I to end in disaster too. I never thought we might be True Loves with a shot at happiness. I guess in the end we didn’t get that regardless.”

Regina sighed and reached across the table to clasp Emma’s hands in her own.

“You’re not the reason those relationships failed, Emma,” she reassured.

Emma scoffed. “Really? Because I’m the common denominator throughout, aren’t I?”

“Perhaps but it takes two to tango,” Regina shrugged. “Those relationships ended because of both people, and perhaps outside factors too. I mean, Neal abandoned you because of August. That was most certainly not your fault. Lily betrayed you too. And as for Graham, well, I suppose that was my doing.” She remembered the feeling of holding the former sheriff’s pulsing heart in her hand and shuddered. Emma squeezed her hands, knowing exactly what Regina was thinking. “And then you and I,” Regina finished. 

“That was my fault,” Emma said at once. 

“No it wasn’t,” Regina replied. “You might have been the one to pull away, to get scared by whatever was happening between us but that doesn’t make it your fault. I should have fought harder for you, for us. I should have stopped you running, I should have tried to make you see that whatever you were feeling for me was ok, was normal. But I didn’t. I let you go, thinking you’d come back to me. And then … well, Hook came along.”

Emma pulled her hands from Regina’s at the mention of her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend? She wasn’t sure exactly how it worked now. She supposed he was dead so the relationship really didn’t have a future. But she still felt a wave of guilt when she realised how her heart was beating at the touch of Regina’s hand.

“I did love him,” Emma said, almost defensively. “And it was … easier. Less complicated. You and me, we never stood a chance, Regina.”

“You never gave us one,” Regina remarked. “You can’t know what it might have been like if we’d stayed together. Don’t judge what we might have had on those two short weeks. Sneaking around behind your parents and Henry’s backs is hardly a normal relationship. It might have been great, if we’d given it a chance.”

“If I’d given us a chance, you mean,” Emma said. 

She knew the brunette blamed her for the end of the relationship, at least, the beginning of the end. It had been she who had run, after all. Emma always ran, especially when she was scared. And what she felt when she was with Regina had scared her, more than anything which she had experienced with Hook. She stood and walked from the desk, needing to put some distance between herself and the woman now looking at her with a pained longing on her face. She stared out of the window over Storybrooke, her mouth twitching into a smile despite the situation at the sight of the bright blue sky. She didn’t hear Regina come up behind her and jumped slightly when a hand landed on her lower back.

“I’ll wait,” came a murmur in her ear. “As long as you need, Emma. I’ll wait for you. And I’m not making the same mistake again. I’m not going to let you run from this. So when you’re ready, when you want to give us another shot, I’ll be waiting.”

Emma didn’t dare look at the woman standing behind her. She could feel the heat radiating from Regina’s body and knew if she turned her head their lips would be millimetres away from each other. She knew she didn’t have the willpower to resist. The memory of their last time together was still fresh in her mind. But she couldn’t, she shouldn’t. Hook had just sacrificed himself for her. He deserved better. She turned the other way, avoiding Regina’s eyes and returned to her desk, pouring over the map laid out there.

“So I think we should start up by the old farmhouse Zelena used to hang out in. She’ll want to be somewhere familiar, somewhere she knows how to defend. Do you and Robin want to head up there and I’ll nip down to the town line and check out the situation there. It’s always good to know if we can get out or not. And I’ll get my dad and Snow to,” Regina’s hand covered Emma’s, the fingers curling around her palm. Emma faltered, “to … um, they can go and start tracking in the forest.”

“Ok,” Regina said, pulling her hand away. 

But just before they lost contact, Emma’s fingers gripped the retreating hand, squeezed softly, and released.

“Wait for me,” Emma whispered, still staring at the map. “Please wait for me, Regina.”


	17. 5.21 - Last Rites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: two more chapters to go and then I’m going to publish my new AU (well, after I’ve finished the one shots for the reviewers of Always Alone. I’m thinking Sunday … Also, SwanQueen friendship only in this one.

Regina’s eyes crinkled with concern as she looked at her friend. “No offence, Emma. But you’re too emotional. I understand, you’ve had a loss but you’re not thinking straight.”

Emma swallowed thickly and narrowed her eyes.

“A loss?” she said, her voice low and dangerous.

Guilt flashed across Regina’s face and she reached out to pat her friend on the arm. Emma pulled away at once, eyes flashing angrily.

“I didn’t lose Hook,” Emma spat. “I know exactly where he is. Thanks to me he’s condemned to spend the rest of eternity in the Underworld, never able to move on to a better place. Just … waiting. So don’t talk to me about loss. This isn’t like you and Daniel. You know he’s alright. You know he’s somewhere happy. Hook sacrificed himself for me, for all of us. And we can’t do anything to help him in return.”

Emma spun around and marched off in the direction of the town hall. Regina took several deep breaths to calm herself. Bringing up Daniel was a low blow and Emma knew it. But the woman was grieving and Regina couldn’t be angry for those painful words. So she followed the hunched back, the wind whipping the tangled blonde hair over tense shoulders.

“Leave me alone, Regina,” Emma said without looking around as she heard footsteps behind her. “I’m going to deal with your sister and Hades and you’re not going to stop -,”

Emma gasped as she suddenly found she couldn’t move. She pulled at her feet but they were immobile, fused to the sidewalk below. She turned and narrowed her eyes at the brunette now beside her. Regina just shrugged and walked to stand in front of the blonde. Emma huffed and folded her arms.

“Regina, let me go. Now,” she said. “I’m not in the mood.”

“I just want you to listen to me,” Regina replied calmly. “Before you go in there all guns blazing because you’re mad at me and your father, can you just hear us out?”

Emma rolled her eyes dramatically but waved her hand as if to encourage Regina to say what she felt she needed to. 

“Thank you,” Regina said. “Emma, we’re not saying you can’t help us, and we’re not saying you’re no longer the saviour of Storybrooke,” Emma bristled at the implication that she had grown to like her title, “but you’re not in a place right now where you should be confronting the man who kept Hook trapped in the Underworld.”

“It wasn’t Hades,” Emma replied. “Hook chose to stay.”

Regina blinked. “What?”

“He could have come,” Emma said, a bitter tone in her voice. “He could have joined me in the elevator. We would have been fine because Hades had already left the Underworld. He could have come back up to the top and we could have continued our search to find another way for him to return together. But he’d given up. He didn’t want to fight any more. He wanted me to leave.” A tear rolled down Emma’s cheek and she swiped it angrily away. “He chose to stay there, Regina. He chose to leave me.”

Without thinking, Regina stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around her friend. Emma’s frame sagged against her body, trembling with sobs as the blonde finally allowed herself to feel all the conflicted emotions about Hook’s decision. She was sad, of course, that he had stayed there. But she was also angry and disappointed that he had given up fighting to get back to the real world. After everything Emma and her entire family had sacrificed to journey to the Underworld, a little commitment to the task didn’t seem like too much to ask. Her heart ached every time she thought of the man, trapped in eternal damnation. Regina’s arms tightened around her. Emma’s heart fluttered. She pulled away.

“Sorry,” she whispered, wiping her eyes. 

“No need to apologise,” Regina said. “I cried for weeks after Daniel died.”

“I’m sorry about that too,” Emma said. “I shouldn’t have compared the two. Daniel didn’t want to leave you and Hook chose to leave me. They’re clearly not the same. But we’ve both lost men we love. I shouldn’t have thrown that back at you when you’re one of the few people in this town who can understand what I’ve been through. I mean, my parents are great but their True Love connection means they know they’re always going to get back to each other. Goodbye is never goodbye when it comes to Snow White and Prince Charming. Unlike the rest of them.”

Regina managed a dry chuckle. “I never got the chance to say goodbye to Daniel,” she mused. “It all happened so fast.”

“At least I got that with Killian,” Emma said. “Even if I was mad at him for not telling me until I’d climbed into the elevator. And we were in the Underworld; he was already dead. I guess I knew deep down there was a chance we’d never save him.”

“But you tried,” Regina reminded her. “That’s all any of us can hope to do for love, Emma. You and Hook gave it your best shot but maybe it wasn’t mean to be.”

“Maybe not,” Emma said. “Maybe I’m not ever going to get my happy ending.”

Regina sighed. “Do I have to give you a hope speech too? I thought having Snow White as your mother meant that infuriating quality ran in your veins.”

Emma managed half a smile but shook her head. She supposed she had always been a pessimist and finding out who her birth parents were couldn’t change a habit of twenty-eight years. Emma had never expected the best out of life, not least because she had rarely gotten it. Except Henry, of course.

“Emma, if I can find my happy ending after the years I spent terrorising a kingdom, I’m sure you can find yours too,” Regina said. “And I know you’re not even thinking of moving on from Hook just yet but one day you will meet someone, someone who understands you and accepts you for who you really are. You won’t have to be brave or strong or fake around them. They’ll love you for you and never ask you to change.”

“You think Killian asked me to change?” Emma said.

Regina bit her lip, unsure how much to say. But when Emma nodded her encouragement, she continued.

“I think you asked him to change,” she replied. “I think he was trying too hard to be a good man for you, a better man, as he was so fond of saying. And yes, some days he managed it but other days it was too much for him. He’d been bad for too long and I’m not sure he ever truly felt redeemed. He doubted his worthiness to you and I suspect that’s why he chose to stay behind. He knew you deserved better and he wanted to give you that opportunity.”

“But he was good enough,” Emma protested. “I loved him.”

“I’m not doubting that,” Regina assured her friend. “But he didn’t believe it. Believing in yourself is much more important that you realise. It wasn’t until I began to believe that I worthy of being called a hero that my magic became truly good. I guess Hook couldn’t get over the darkness of his past.”

Emma took a deep breath and nodded her understanding. Regina thought she looked defeated and waved her hand to release Emma’s feet which were still glued to the floor. The blonde didn’t seem to notice she was free.

“So what should I do now?” Emma asked after a pause.

“Well, Robin and I are going to go under the town hall through a secret tunnel to try and get back his daughter. And I think it would be best if you and David were to wait nearby. Keep a lookout in case we need backup but make sure they can’t see you. We want the element of surprise. If you see anything suspicious, text me, ok?”

Emma nodded mutely and turned from her friend. But after a few steps back down the street, she stopped. Regina waited patiently for the blonde to say whatever was on her mind. When she spoke, her back was still to the brunette.

“You really think I’ll find someone who’ll love me again?”

The question was so doubtful, so tentative, that Regina’s heart almost broke. She had no idea the blonde had such low self-esteem. After all, who was more loveable than Emma Swan? Shaking that thought quickly from her mind, Regina cleared her throat before answering.

“I’m sure of it.”


	18. 5.22 - Only You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: so this has the best SwanQueen scene in perhaps ever! And Lana is so incredible in it. I was blown away again by her acting when I rewatched this ep in preparation for writing this chapter. I used part of their script and then added four extra words which completely change the premise!

“It’s exhausting,” Regina admitted. “I’m constantly at war with my instincts. Like with Hook, my first impulse was to rip his throat out. Because it’s not fair that he gets you and I don’t.”

Emma balked, eyes wide. She turned away from the computer screen which was still recovering the deleted data and stared at Regina. The brunette too seemed a little surprised at her admittance and sank into the leather chair by the window, head in her hands. Emma said nothing, waiting instead for Regina to explain what she meant.

“It could have happened,” Regina said after a while. “We could have happened, Emma. Finally, for a split second, we were both free of the men we’d fallen into relationships with. Yes, I’m sad that Robin’s dead but I also felt a certain freedom. Finally, I could stop pretending. Those instincts I mentioned, they’re not only ‘good or evil’. They’re my sexual instincts too.”

“You’re gay?” Emma asked bluntly.

Regina shrugged. “I’ve never labeled myself,” she replied. “But I was attracted to you. For five years I was trying to deny that fact and when Robin died, I was finally able to admit it to myself. And just before I was able to come to you and tell you how I felt, Hook reappeared. It took every ounce of self-control I have not to kill him the moment he walked into that diner.”

Emma swallowed thickly, trying to process everything she had just heard. Pushing aside the fact that Regina had wanted to kill her boyfriend, she had another burning question.

“Why did you turn me away before then?” Emma frowned. 

Regina had the good grace to look guilty. That night had plagued her regretful dreams for three years. She still didn’t have a satisfying answer.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“We were both single,” Emma pointed out. “Hook and I weren’t involved back then and you hadn’t even met Robin. I know the jungle on Neverland wasn’t exactly the ideal place to start a relationship with lost boys firing deadly arrows at us day and night but you shot me down at once, as if the idea of being with me was repulsive or something. It had taken me months to work up the courage to ask you out. Well, ask you to walk down to the river to collect water with me. I thought I’d read all the signs wrong, all those little clues that I thought meant you found me attractive. You made me feel like an idiot for thinking there could have been anything more between us. And now I find out you were just scared of being judged for liking women?”

Regina’s eyes shone with tears as she realised how much her rejection had hurt Emma. She knew it had been unkind, she knew she hadn’t exactly been delicate. But she also knew she hadn’t been ready to accept her feelings.

“There was no such thing as homosexuality in the Enchanted Forest,” Regina explained. “I grew up believing I was dirty or wrong for having these thoughts and feelings about other women. I repressed them as much as possible and it was only when you came right out and asked me if there could be more between us that I remembered what my body and heart truly wanted. I got scared, Emma, and I’m so sorry I took that fear out on you. I ran, and I ran to Robin. It was only after I saw you with Hook that I realised what a terrible mistake I’d made.”

“We’ve been together two years,” Emma said. “Why wait until now to admit you’re … hang on, what are you admitting?”

Regina gave a dry chuckle. They had never exactly learnt the art of speaking clearly with one another. Their friendship had always required careful navigation and decipherment, especially after Emma’s confession had pushed them apart for months. Over the years however, they had become rather adept at reading between the lines.

“I like you, Emma,” Regina said simply. “I really, really like you. And ashamed as I am to admit it, one of my first thoughts after Robin’s death was that at least I was free now to give things a chance with you and I.”

“What made you think I’d even be open to that?” Emma asked, folding her arms. 

Regina winced. She realised she hadn’t even entertained the possibility that Emma might no longer want her. It had been three years since that awkward conversation on the bank of the Neverland stream, after all. 

“I … I didn’t think about that,” Regina admitted.

“No because you don’t think about other people, do you,” Emma said, standing up and pacing to the far side of the apartment. “You never think about the impact your actions or words might have on other people. You say you’re battling against the Evil Queen but she still gets through, Regina. That selfish, uncaring woman you used to be. She comes across in biting comments and remarks almost every day. Yes you’re doing good but sometimes I see a flash of her. I don’t think you even notice it but we do. We see her. Even Henry, although he doesn’t mention it.”

Tears flowed down Regina’s cheeks and she reached up to swipe them away before Emma could see how much her biting words had hurt. She closed her eyes and tried to regain control. Regina from Storybrooke was crumbling inside but the Evil Queen was rising up, trying to defend her newer, weaker self. Summoning all her energy Regina pushed her back down.

“I’m sorry,” Regina whispered. “I’ve tried.”

Emma heard the heartbreak in Regina’s voice and felt a pang of guilt. She turned to see the brunette looking forlornly at her, eyes red from crying. She couldn’t help it. She crossed the room and gathered Regina into her arms, murmuring apologies. She hadn’t meant what she said. She hadn’t intended to upset Regina so much. The brunette sobbed into the soft leather jacket, her tears staining the red material but Emma didn’t care. She eased herself onto the chair beside Regina and lay back, pulling the older woman tightly against her side. Regina let herself be coaxed down, still crying. Emma stroked her hair and placed a soft kiss to her forehead, trying to soothe the distraught woman.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said when the crying abated. “I didn’t mean that. I know you’ve changed, Regina. We all say things without thinking sometimes, it’s not because you’re still the Evil Queen. You’re a hero now. You defeated the darkness more completely than Hook or I ever did. You’re amazing, Regina.”

“And you still don’t want me,” Regina whispered.

Emma leaned backwards slightly and placed a finger under Regina’s chin, tilting her head up until their eyes eventually met.

“I didn’t say that,” came the throaty words.

“What?” 

“I never said I didn’t want you,” Emma replied. “You hurt me, Regina. You really hurt me in Neverland and it took me a long time to get over that. Hook was my distraction, to be honest. Although that backfired when he fell for me, I suppose. But it worked. I got over you.”

“Oh,” Regina said, moving to sit up. But Emma pulled her back down, wrapping her arms more firmly around the brunette.

“But,” she said, her finger now trailing along Regina’s jawline and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, “that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get under you again.”

Regina’s breath hitched, her heart pounding in her chest. Her gaze flickered over Emma’s face, trying to read her emotions. She looked into those familiar green eyes and saw something she hadn’t seen in three years. Unadulterated lust. She leaned forwards.

The kiss was slow, delicate. Emma’s lips parted as Regina’s covered hers, their flesh hot and supple against one another. Emma’s hand cupped Regina’s face, drawing her closer as Regina’s arm wrapped around the blonde, their bodies now flush together. Regina moaned as Emma’s fingers flitted across her earlobe and Emma took advantage of the open mouth to push her tongue inside, tasting the brunette for the first time. She shuddered in delight. Regina tasted like coffee with the faintest trace of the sugary bear claw the two of them had shared during their road trip to New York. 

It was Regina who pulled back first. Her eyes opened slowly, hardly daring to believe what had just happened. What she saw when she finally looked before her was an achingly familiar beautiful face, a serene smile on those lips, her own lipstick smudged around the edges.

“Don’t fight your instincts, Regina,” Emma said softly. “The Evil Queen is part of who you are; past, present, and future. No, she can’t come out to play every day but you need to accept her as one of the reasons you became the incredible woman you are today. She’s flawed, sure, and I don’t think I want to meet her on the streets late at night. But she’s strong and passionate and fiercely loyal. Take those qualities, use those traits and maybe you’ll learn how to accept her into your new life. And as for those other instincts,” Emma rocked her hips forwards; Regina let out a whimper, “who cares what people think. If two people like each other and want to be together, how can it be wrong?”

A smiled spread slowly across Regina’s lips. “You want to be with me?”

“Yes,” Emma replied simply. “I’ve wanted to be with you for a long time. I was just biding my time until you realised what you wanted too.”

“Sorry it took me so long,” Regina chuckled.

“S’okay,” Emma said, kissing Regina lightly. “We’ll just have to make up for lost time.”

Regina moaned as Emma rolled on top of her but before the blonde could even begin to push the jacket from her shoulders, the laptop pinged, signalling it had finally finished recovering the deleted history. The kiss broke reluctantly.

“We need to find our son,” Emma said, clambering off Regina.

“I know,” Regina replied, sitting up and straightening her rumbled clothing. 

“But when we get back to Storybrooke after having saved the world again, you’re coming over to mine and Henry can go and sleep at my mom and dad’s for, say, a week?”

“A week?” Regina squeaked.

“We have three years to make up for,” Emma reminded her before turning her attention to the screen and scanning the recovered search history. Regina walked up behind her and leaned over her shoulder to read too. She placed a kiss to the exposed skin of Emma’s neck, making the blonde shiver. Yeah, they needed to get back to Storybrooke as soon as possible. And she probably needed to speak to Hook too …


	19. 5.23 - An Untold Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: the last one, guys! I do have another one shot to finish but I think I’m going to publish the first (and so far only) chapter of my new AU fic tomorrow. It will be called Crazy Changes so keep an eye out! Thanks for reading these little episode inserts. When Season 6 starts, I’ll be writing weekly and posting on Monday or Tuesday (depending on work). Anyway, enjoy!

“No matter what you do, you can’t destroy our darkness,” the Evil Queen sneered. “Deep down inside, you know the truth. You. Need. Me.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at her former self. It wasn’t true, not any more. Regina didn’t need her anger, her hatred, her wrath. She was good now. She needed her friends, her family, and people who believed in her. And she had that. And more.

“No,” Regina said, turning to look directly at Emma. “I need her.”

With her eyes still locked on surprised green orbs, Regina plunged her hand into her former self’s chest. Her fingers closed around a warm, hard object and she pulled back, the darkened heart clutched in her palm. Breaking eye contact with Emma at last, she turned back to see the surprised face of herself looking back at her. The Evil Queen really had thought Regina was too weak. but she was wrong. Regina’s fingers constricted, the heart began to crumble. The cold, calculating eyes widened as she realised what had happened. Her new, redeemed, good self had destroyed her. She felt a burning pain in her chest where her heart had once resided and then, quite peacefully, she began to fade away, floating like dust on the air until there was nothing left.

In the silence that followed, Regina remained rooted to the spot, staring at the place where the  
Evil Queen had disappeared. Snow and Emma however, were both staring at Regina.

There was a soft cough. Regina's cheeks flamed red and she turned to Snow who looked like she was trying to decide what to say.

"I'm, um, I'm going to check on the others,” she said after a moment.

Reaching behind her for the door handle, she glanced once more between both women before wrenching the door open and disappearing from the rooftop. Emma still hadn't moved. When the door clanged shut, Regina spoke. 

"I'm sorry," Regina said, her voice trembling. "I didn't mean to tell you like that."

It wasn't until Regina had walked, unsteadily, to a chair and sat down on it that Emma seemed to jolt back to the present. She followed suit, sitting down opposite Regina and reaching for the hip flask her mother had left. She took a swig.

"You need me?"

Regina flushed but nodded.

"How? I mean, why?"

Regina let out a little chuckle.

"Isn't it obvious, Emma?" Regina said. "I've needed you for five years. You're the only person I've always been able to rely on. Ok, at first I could always rely on you to try and discredit me as Mayor, but at least you were predictable. And then, after we became friends, I was still always able to tell what you were thinking, what you wanted. And you could read me perfectly too. Far more accurately than any man."

Emma took another large gulp of what had turned out to be whiskey, wincing at the liquid burned her throat slightly.

"What about Robin?" Emma asked.

Pain and guilt flashed across Regina's face. Emma immediately felt bad for bring up the recently deceased thief.

"I loved him," Regina said. "At least, I thought I did. And he loved me. But I suppose now he'll know where my heart truly lies."

She glanced upwards towards the starry night sky.

"You believe in heaven?" Emma asked.

Regina couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Is that really what you're taking away from what I just said?"

Emma managed a laugh. "No," she admitted. "It was more a stalling tactic to avoid addressing that. You ... what? You love me?"

"Yes," Regina replied simply.

Emma drained the hip flask and placed it back on the table where it promptly fell over. Neither women acknowledged the clattering sound which followed. Regina waited, holding her breath, eyes never leaving Emma's face.

"Um ... can you explain?" came the eventual reply.

"Love?" Regina asked. "If I have to explain it, clearly you've never experienced it."

“No, not love," Emma said. "Can you explain how this happened?"

"How I fell in love with a clumsy, stubborn, infuriating woman who just so happens to be the mother of my adoptive son?" Regina asked, a teasing glint in her eye. "Not really. I just realised that over time, as my feelings from you changed, from hatred those first few months to respect, to actually liking you, something more happened too. You made me believe in myself again, Emma. You made me believe I could be good, and that I did deserve redemption. You made me the person I am today and because of that, I was able to banish the Evil Queen from myself once and for all."

Emma bit her lip. Regina's eyes zeroed in on the pale flesh, pinched white by the pearly teeth. Emma flushed when she realised what Regina was staring at and released her lip.

"And that makes you think you love me?"

"I know what love is, Emma. I loved Daniel, remember? I had been waiting twenty eight years to feel it again, so yes, I do love you."

"But Robin -,"

"Was a wonderful man whom I'll miss dearly," Regina interrupted. "But my affection for him was nothing compared to how I feel for you."

"Pretty sure you've never referred to your affection for me before," Emma remarked. "Why didn't you say anything? Why now?"

Regina sighed. She really didn't have a good answer for that. She hadn't exactly planned to tell Emma. At least not like that, and not in front of Snow White. She flushed slightly thinking of what the pixie-haired brunette might be saying downstairs to David that very moment.

"Because you were with Hook and I was with Robin," Regina shrugged. "Nothing was going to happen and it would have just ruined our friendship for no reason."

"And now?"

Regina shrugged and looked into Emma's bright green eyes.

"Now the ball's in your court," she replied. "I've been denying how I feel about you for a long time, Emma, but now you know, it's up to you to decide what you want to do about it. About us."

"Us?"

Regina just shrugged again. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the starry night sky. She didn't need to say any more. After a few minutes, she heard Emma's chair scrape back and the blonde stood up. She hesitated for a moment and then turned towards the door back down to the apartment. When the metal clanged shut, Regina wiped the tear from the corner of her eye. She knew it was stupid. She knew she shouldn't have expected Emma to fall into her arms. But her heart still broke a little as she heard the clumping footsteps on the stairs beyond the door. Standing up, she walked to the brick wall surrounding the rooftop and leaned against it, staring out over the glittering city below. It was only her second time in New York but she was already captivated by the lively city. Much as she loved life in Storybrooke, she hoped she would be taking more trips to the Big Apple in the future. She was so distracted by the sights before her that she didn't hear the rooftop door open again. She jumped when a pair of hands landed on her hips.

Emma's lips brushed against the soft skin of her neck, goosebumps erupting from the contact and Regina gasped. Fingertips gently turned her around until she found herself face to face with the blonde. Their lips were millimetres from one another but neither were looking at the other's mouth. Instead, their eyes were locked in a deep, meaningful, passionate gaze, green burning into brown, trying to decipher the emotions hidden within. 

It was always going to have to be Emma who made the first move. Regina's eyes fluttered closed just as the blonde's lips brushed against her own. She let out a breathy sigh of contentment at the featherlight contact. It was a short kiss, broken moments later when Emma pulled back. Regina slowly opened her eyes, heart pounding.

"What was that?" she whispered.

"A test," Emma replied.

"Did I pass?"

Emma chuckled. "I was testing myself," she explained. "I wanted to see if I still felt it."

"Still felt what?" Regina asked.

"That rush," Emma said. When Regina frowned, the blonde continued. "Whenever you touched me in the past, I always felt this weird surge of energy. I thought it was because you were hot when I first met you and then I figured it was magic. But since I've been with Hook and you've been with Robin, we've touched less. Did you notice that?" Not waiting for a reply, Emma continued. "And so I just wanted to check."

Regina smiled softly. “Well, you were right. That rush was magic," she said.

Emma frowned. "What?"

"It took me a long time to work it out," Regina admitted. "Even after I knew I loved you, I didn't realise what that connection was."

"What is it?"

"True Love," Regina replied.

There was a heavy silence. That was yet another thing Regina hadn't intended to tell Emma, at least, not yet. To find out someone is your True Love was a big deal, let alone to find out its someone you're not even in a relationship with. Regina waited for Emma to react.

She gasped into the kiss, Emma's hands cupping her cheeks as she pulled her close, a tongue invading her mouth at once, and caressing her own. Regina shivered at the taste of the blonde and wrapped her arms around Emma's body, eclipsing all remaining space between them. When Emma's tongue retreated, she followed it into the blonde's mouth, nipping her lip as she did so and drawing a breathy moan from the younger woman. Emma's fingers slid into her hair, tangling in the windswept locks.

The door behind them banged open. The two women sprang apart.

"Oh," came Snow White's shocked voice. "I, um, I was just coming to see if you ... Um, never mind. I'll, um -," 

"Mom," Emma interrupted. "What's up?"

"You tell me," Snow replied, arms crossed as she looked between the two red-faced women.

"Long story," Emma said. "And one I think I should tell Killian before you, to be honest." Regina felt a pang of guilt at the mention of the pirate. She might not like him but she had never intended to be the other woman. "What did you come up here for?"

Snow looked like she was about to argue at being denied gossip but seemed to think better of it. "Henry wants to order pizza," she said. "I was sent up to see what you both wanted."

"Vegetable," Regina replied.

"Meat feast," Emma said at the exact same time.

Snow raised her eyebrows. How two women who were so completely opposite fitted perfectly together, she would never know. But they did. It seemed she had known that long before her daughter, in fact. She was just glad Regina had finally had the guts to admit her feelings and the two of them had gotten to a place where they might actually have a shot at happiness. After all, no one deserved it more than the Saviour of Storybrooke and a reformed Evil Queen.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: bit of angst to start this fic off. Don’t worry, the fun smutty stuff will be back very soon. In fact, chapter 2 is going to be HOT!


End file.
